Beginning
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.
The Law of Holiness[f]
Chapter 17
Sacredness of Blood.[g] 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: 3 Whichever man of the house of Israel slays an ox or a lamb or a goat, either slaying it inside the camp or outside of it, 4 and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, nor offers it to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, that man shall be guilty of its blood, the blood that he shed, and that man shall be cut off from among his people. 5 This is to stop the children of Israel from offering their sacrifices in the open fields, and so that they bring them unto the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting, to the priest, to offer peace offerings unto the Lord. 6 The priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He shall burn the fat as a sweet fragrance to the Lord. 7 They shall no longer offer their sacrifices to the demons[h] with whom they have prostituted themselves. This shall be a statute for them through all their generations.’
8 “You shall say this to them, ‘Whoever from the house of Israel or from among the aliens living in your midst offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice, 9 and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord, that person will be cut off from among his people. 10 [i]Whoever from the house of Israel or from among the aliens living in your midst eats anything with blood, I will set my face against that person and he shall be cut off from among his people. 11 The life of all flesh is found in its blood. I have given it to you to make atonement for your life upon the altar. Blood is to make atonement for one’s life.’ 12 Therefore, I told the children of Israel, ‘No one of you shall eat blood, nor shall the alien living among you eat blood.’
13 “Whoever from among the children of Israel or from among the aliens living in your midst hunts or catches a beast or a bird that can be eaten, let him pour out its blood and cover it with dust 14 for it is the life of all flesh. The blood is its life. Therefore, I said to the children of Israel, ‘You will eat no blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is in the blood. Whoever eats it will be cut off.’ 15 Whoever eats a beast that died by itself, or that was torn asunder by beasts, whether he be a native or an alien, shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and he shall be unclean until the evening. Then he shall be clean. 16 But if he does not wash or bathe, then he shall bear his guilt.”
Chapter 18[j]
Sexual Conduct. 1 The Lord spoke again to Moses saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: ‘I am the Lord, your God.[k] 3 You shall not do things like they did in Egypt, where you dwelt, nor shall you do things like they do in Canaan, where I am bringing you. You shall not do these things, nor shall you follow their ordinances.[l] 4 You shall observe my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, walking in them. I am the Lord, your God. 5 You shall keep my ordinances and my statutes. He who obeys them shall live by them. I am the Lord, your God.
6 “ ‘None of you is to be intimate with any of your close relatives, to uncover their nakedness. I am the Lord. 7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father or your mother. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife, for her nakedness is like your father’s own nakedness. 9 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, whether she be the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother, whether she be born in your household or elsewhere. 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter nor shall you uncover the nakedness of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is like your own nakedness. 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife, the daughter born of your father. She is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister. She is your father’s close relation. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister. She is your mother’s close relation. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not be intimate with his wife; she is your aunt. 15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife. Her nakedness is like your brother’s nakedness.[m] 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter. Nor shall you uncover the nakedness of her son’s daughter nor her daughter’s daughter. They are her close relations. It would be shameful. 18 You shall not take the sister of your wife while she is still alive, uncovering her nakedness. They would be rivals.
19 “ ‘You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity. 20 You shall not have sex with your neighbor’s wife, defiling both her and yourself. 21 You shall not offer any of your children to Molech.[n] You shall not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. 22 You shall not have sex with a man as you would with a woman. It is an abomination. 23 Nor shall you have sex with any animal, defiling yourself. Nor shall any woman have sex with an animal. It is perverse.
24 “ ‘You shall not defile yourself by doing any of these things, for the pagans have defiled themselves by all of these things. I am casting them out before you. 25 Because of this the land is defiled, and I will punish its iniquity. The land will vomit out its inhabitants. 26 Therefore, you shall observe my statutes and my ordinances. You shall not commit any abominations, neither anyone from your own nation nor any aliens who dwell among you. 27 The men of the land that lies before you have committed all of these abominations, and the land is defiled. 28 Otherwise the land will vomit you out, too, when you defile it, like it vomited out the pagans before you. 29 Whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from among their people. 30 Therefore, you shall keep my ordinances, and you shall not do any of these abominable things, such as the things that were done before you, lest you defile yourself. I am the Lord, your God.’ ”
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