Consecration of the Priests

29 “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. (A)Take one bull of the herd and two rams without blemish, (B)and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and (C)wash them with water. Then (D)you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the (E)skillfully woven band of the ephod. (F)And you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. You shall take (G)the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Then you (H)shall bring his sons and put coats on them, and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with (I)sashes and bind caps on them. And (J)the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall (K)ordain Aaron and his sons.

10 “Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. (L)Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, 12 and (M)shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the (N)horns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of[a] the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all (O)the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire (P)outside the camp; (Q)it is a sin offering.

15 “Then (R)you shall take one of the rams, and (S)Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 16 and you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. 17 Then you shall (T)cut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, 18 and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a (U)pleasing aroma, a food offering[b] to the Lord.

19 (V)“You shall take the other ram, (W)and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 20 and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. 21 Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the (X)anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him.

22 “You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the (Y)fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of (Z)ordination), 23 and (AA)one loaf of bread and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. 24 You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and (AB)wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 Then (AC)you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a (AD)pleasing aroma before the Lord. It is a food offering to the Lord.

26 “You shall take the (AE)breast of the ram of Aaron's (AF)ordination and (AG)wave it for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion. 27 And you shall consecrate the (AH)breast of the wave offering that is waved and the (AI)thigh of the priests' portion that is contributed from the ram of (AJ)ordination, from what was Aaron's and his sons'. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a (AK)perpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is a (AL)contribution. It shall be a (AM)contribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord.

29 “The holy garments of Aaron (AN)shall be for his sons after him; they shall (AO)be anointed in them and ordained in them. 30 The son who succeeds him as priest, who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, shall wear them (AP)seven days.

31 “You shall take the ram of ordination and (AQ)boil its flesh in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the (AR)bread that is in the basket in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 33 (AS)They shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an (AT)outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. 34 And if any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remain until the morning, then you shall (AU)burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through (AV)seven days shall you ordain them, 36 and every day you shall offer a (AW)bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall (AX)anoint it to consecrate it. 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the (AY)altar shall be most holy. (AZ)Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.

38 “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: (BA)two lambs a year old (BB)day by day regularly. 39 One lamb you shall offer (BC)in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer (BD)at twilight. 40 And with the first lamb a tenth measure[c] of fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin[d] of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 The other lamb you shall offer (BE)at twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as (BF)in the morning, for a (BG)pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. 42 It shall be a (BH)regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, (BI)where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 43 There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be (BJ)sanctified by my glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. (BK)Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. 45 (BL)I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that (BM)I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 29:12 Hebrew all
  2. Exodus 29:18 Or an offering by fire; also verses 25, 41
  3. Exodus 29:40 Possibly an ephah (about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters)
  4. Exodus 29:40 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters

The Consecration of the Priests

29 “This is what you are to do to them in order to consecrate them to serve me as priests: Take a young bull, two rams without blemish, unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread[a] with oil, which you are to make from fine wheat flour. You are to put them[b] in one basket and bring them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. You are to bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water. Take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breast piece, and then gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. Then put the turban on his head, and place the holy crown on the turban. You are to take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him. Then you are to bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. You are to gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and tie headdresses on them. The priesthood is to belong to them by perpetual ordinance, and you are to ordain[c] Aaron and his sons.

10 “You are to bring the bull in front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you are to slaughter the bull in the Lord’s presence at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. 12 Take some of the blood of the bull, put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest[d] of the blood at the base of the altar. 13 You are to take all the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them and send them up in smoke on the altar. 14 You are to burn the flesh of the bull, its hide, and its refuse with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.

15 “You are to take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its[e] head. 16 Then you are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and scatter it around the altar. 17 You are to cut the ram into pieces,[f] wash its entrails and legs, put them on the altar along[g] with the pieces[h] and its head, 18 and send up the whole ram in smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord; it’s a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord.

19 “You are to take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20 You are to slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, the lobe of his sons’ right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet. Then you are to scatter the rest of the blood around the altar. 21 You are to take some of the blood which is on the altar, along with some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and their[i] garments. He is to be consecrated with his garments, along with his sons and their garments.

22 “You are to take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, the right thigh (for it’s a ram of ordination), 23 and one loaf of bread, one cake of bread mixed with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is in the Lord’s presence. 24 You are to put all of these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and present them as a wave offering in the Lord’s presence. 25 Then you are to take them from their hands and send them up in smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering for a soothing aroma in the Lord’s presence. It is an offering by fire to the Lord.

26 “You are to take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination, and present it as a wave offering in the Lord’s presence, and it is to be your portion. 27 You are to consecrate the portion of the ram of ordination that belongs to Aaron and his sons:[j] the breast of the wave offering that was waved and the thigh of the presented offering that was presented.[k] 28 These offerings[l] from the Israelis are to be a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his sons. They are presented offerings, and they are to be presented offerings from the Israelis out of their peace offerings. They are presented offerings to the Lord.

29 “The holy garments of Aaron are to be for his sons after him[m] so that they may be anointed in them and ordained in them. 30 Aaron’s son, who is priest in his place, is to wear them for seven days when he comes into the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place.

31 “You are to take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a Holy Place. 32 Then Aaron and his sons are to eat the flesh of the ram along with the bread that is in the basket at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. 33 They are to eat these things by which atonement was made at their ordination to consecrate them, but an unqualified person[n] is not to eat because these things are holy. 34 If any of the flesh of the ordination ram[o] or any of the bread is left until morning, you are to burn what is left with fire. Because it’s holy, what remains is not to be eaten. 35 You are to do this for Aaron and his sons, just as I’ve commanded you. You are to ordain them for seven days, 36 and every day you are to offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Offer the sin offering on the altar when you make atonement for it and anoint the altar to consecrate it. 37 You are to make atonement for the altar for seven days and consecrate it. It will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy.”

The Altar for Burnt Offering(A)

38 “This is what you are to offer on the altar continually: two one year old lambs each day. 39 “You are to offer one lamb in the morning and the other[p] at twilight, 40 and there is to be a tenth measure of choice flour mixed with one fourth of a hin[q] of oil extracted by hand,[r] and one fourth of a hin[s] of wine as a drink offering for one lamb. 41 You are to offer the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning. You are to offer it as a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord. 42 It is to be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway to the Tent of Meeting in the Lord’s presence, where I’ll meet with you to speak to you there. 43 I’ll meet there with the Israelis, and it is to be consecrated by my glory. 44 I’ll consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I’ll consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve as my priests. 45 I’ll live among the Israelis, and I’ll be their God. 46 They are to know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I may live among them. I am the Lord your God.”

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 29:2 Or anointed
  2. Exodus 29:3 I.e. the bread, cakes, and wafers
  3. Exodus 29:9 Lit. fill the hand of
  4. Exodus 29:12 Lit. all
  5. Exodus 29:15 Lit. the head of the ram
  6. Exodus 29:17 Lit. its pieces
  7. Exodus 29:17 The Heb. lacks on the altar along
  8. Exodus 29:17 Lit. its pieces
  9. Exodus 29:21 Lit. on his sons’ garments
  10. Exodus 29:27 Lit. from what was for Aaron and from what was for his sons
  11. Exodus 29:27 Or lifted up
  12. Exodus 29:28 Lit. it
  13. Exodus 29:29 I.e. descendants
  14. Exodus 29:33 Lit. a stranger; i.e. one not qualified to serve as a priest
  15. Exodus 29:34 The Heb. lacks ram
  16. Exodus 29:39 I.e. about one quart
  17. Exodus 29:40 I.e. about one quart
  18. Exodus 29:40 Lit. beaten; i.e. the olives were crushed in a mortar rather than pressed in an olive press
  19. Exodus 29:40 I.e. about one quart