Leviticus 16
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 16[a]
The Day of Atonement. The Lord spoke to Moses after the two sons of Aaron died, after they came before the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother that he should not come into the sanctuary, inside of the veil, before the seat of atonement that is on the Ark whenever he wants, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud over the seat of atonement. 3 Aaron is to come into the sanctuary with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen tunic and the linen undergarments. He shall wrap the linen sash around himself and put on the linen turban. He shall put these holy garments on after he has washed his body with water. 5 He shall take two kid goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering from the assembly of the children of Israel.6 “Aaron shall offer the young bull as a sin offering for himself, making atonement for himself and his household. 7 He shall then take the two goats and bring them before the Lord, at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, designating one goat for the Lord and the other one for the scapegoat.[b] 9 Aaron shall take the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell and shall offer it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat upon which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to send it out into the wilderness as the scapegoat.
11 “Aaron shall bring the young bull of the sin offering that is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household. He shall slay the young bull as a sin offering for himself.[c] 12 Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals from the fire on the altar before the Lord. His hands are to be full of finely ground sweet incense. He shall bring these inside the veil. 13 He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud of incense might cover the seat of atonement that is on the Testimony, lest he die. 14 He shall take some of the blood from the young bull, and shall sprinkle it with his finger upon the east part of the seat of atonement. Seven times he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger in front of the seat of atonement.
15 “He shall then slay the goat of the sin offering for the people and he shall bring its blood inside the veil. He shall do the same thing with this blood as he did with the blood of the young bull. He shall sprinkle it on the seat of atonement and in front of the seat of atonement. 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary, for the uncleanness of the children of Israel, for their transgressions, and for all their sins. This is what he shall do for the tent of meeting that resides in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 No one is to be inside of the tent of meeting when he enters to make atonement in the sanctuary, until the time that he exits, so that he can make atonement for himself and for his household and for all of the assembly of Israel. 18 He shall go to the altar that is before the Lord and he shall make atonement for it. He shall take some of the blood of the young bull and some of the blood of the goat and he shall put it on the horns around the altar. 19 He shall sprinkle the blood upon it with his finger seven times, cleansing it and purifying it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
20 The Scapegoat.“When he has finished making an atonement for the sanctuary, and for the tent of meeting, and for the altar, he shall bring out the live goat. 21 Aaron shall lay both of his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess all of the iniquities of the children of Israel over it, and all of their transgressions, and all of their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat. The goat shall then be sent away, led by the hand of a man appointed to lead it into the wilderness.[d] 22 The goat shall bear all of their iniquities into an isolated place. The man shall release it into the wilderness.
23 “Aaron shall then enter the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments that he put on when he entered the sanctuary, and he shall leave them there. 24 He shall wash himself in a holy place and put on his normal clothes. He shall then come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people to make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 He shall burn the fat of the sin offering upon the altar.
26 “The man who led the scapegoat away shall wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and then he can enter the camp. 27 The young bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the sanctuary to make atonement, must be carried outside of the camp and burned with fire. This includes its hide, its meat, and its dung. 28 The man who burned them shall wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and then he can come into the camp.
29 The Fast.“This will be a statute for you forever. On the tenth day of the seventh month, you must humble your spirits and do no work, whether it is a countryman or an alien dwelling among you[e] 30 for that is the day that the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you of your sins before the Lord, so that you may be clean. 31 It will be a Sabbath rest, and you will humble your spirits. This is a statute forever. 32 The priest who is anointed and consecrated to succeed his father as priest shall make atonement. He shall wear the sacred linen garments. 33 He shall make atonement for the sanctuary, for the tent of meeting, and for the altar. He shall make atonement for the priest and all the assembly of the people. 34 This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel for all of their sins once a year.” Moses did as the Lord had commanded him.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 16:1 Once a year, the high priest entered alone into the innermost part of the sanctuary and with the blood sprinkled the propitiatory, that is, the costly covering that contained the Ark of the Covenant and that symbolized the seat of God. The purpose of this rite was to expiate the uncleannesses with which the children of Israel had stained God’s dwelling and to renew the personal relationship which the covenant at Sinai had established between God and his people.
1
The ceremony of atonement also continued a primitive Semitic practice: a goat was taken out into the wilderness, that is, into infertile and wretched land, and was let go there, not as an offering to a demon, Azazel (the word appears in the Hebrew text) but in order to get rid of the sins of which the animal was the symbolic bearer.
The Letter to the Hebrews recalls this liturgy in order to assert that Christ fulfilled in a definitive way what was done on the Day of Atonement; that is, he took upon himself the sins of the world and made expiation for them by means of his own blood (Heb 9:6-14). - Leviticus 16:8 The Hebrew text has “azazel” for scapegoat. This was the name of a demon which the ancient Hebrews and the Canaanites believed dwelled in the barren wilderness, that is, in a place where God did not exercise his fructifying activity.
- Leviticus 16:11 In order for Aaron to be an acceptable minister for the people in the sanctuary, he himself had to be ritually cleansed (see Heb 5:1-3).
- Leviticus 16:21 Aaron transferred the sins of the people by laying both hands on the sacrificial animal, thereby winning atonement for their transgressions.
- Leviticus 16:29 This is the only place in the Old Testament where a penance is required before offering sacrifice.
