Beginning
Rules about the Day of Atonement
16 The Lord spoke to Moses after the two sons of Aaron died. The gift that they gave to the Lord was not holy. So they died. 2 The Most Holy Place in the Tent of Meeting is behind the curtain. The Lord said to Moses, ‘Your brother Aaron cannot go behind the curtain at any time that he wants to. Tell him that. The Lord appears in a cloud over the lid of the Covenant Box. So Aaron will die if he does not obey the Lord.
3 This is how Aaron must go into the Most Holy Place. He must bring a young bull for a sin offering. He must also bring a male sheep for a burnt offering. 4 He must wash his body before he puts on his special clothes. He must wear his linen robe and linen clothes next to his body. They are holy. He must tie a linen belt round his body. He must put the linen hat on his head. These clothes are holy. 5 He must take two male goats for a sin offering. And he must take a male sheep for a burnt offering. They are a gift from Israel's people.
6 Aaron must offer the bull as an atonement to the Lord for himself, his family and his servants. 7 He must take the two goats to the door of the Tent of Meeting. They are a gift to the Lord. 8 He must use the special stones.[a] They will help him to decide what he should do. He must decide which goat is for the Lord. And he must decide which goat he must send away. 9 Aaron must take the goat that is for the Lord. And he must kill it. It is a sin offering. 10 He must not kill the other goat. It is an atonement to the Lord. It will pay for the bad things that the people have done. It is to take away the people's punishment. He must send it away into the desert.’
11 ‘Aaron must bring the bull and he must kill it. It is his atonement for his family's sins. 12 He must take a pot of the hot material. It is burning on the altar in front of the Lord. He must fill his two hands with incense. He must take the hot material and the incense behind the curtain. 13 He must put the incense on the burning material. It is in front of the Lord. The smoke will cover the lid of the Covenant Box. So he will not die. 14 He must take with him blood from the bull. He must use his finger to shake the blood. He must shake it onto the lid of the Covenant Box. He must shake the blood in front of the lid of the Covenant Box. He must shake it seven times with his finger.
15 Aaron must kill the goat for the sin offering. It is a gift from the people. He must take the blood behind the curtain. He must shake the blood on the lid of the Covenant Box as he did with the bull's blood. And he must shake the blood in front of the lid of the Covenant Box. 16 This will make atonement for all the sins of Israel's people. This will make the Holy Place clean. Aaron must do the same for the Tent of Meeting. That is because the people have done bad things in the camp. The Tent of meeting is in the middle of the camp. 17 Aaron must give the offerings to God. He must give them for his family and he must give them for his servants. He must give them for all the people. Nobody can go into the Tent of Meeting while Aaron is in the Most Holy Place. He must be alone when he goes in. And he must be alone until he comes out. He must be alone when he gives the offerings to God. Those offerings make atonement for himself, for his family and for all Israel's people.
18 He must go to the altar that is in front of the Lord. He must make atonement for it. He must take blood from the bull and blood from the goat. He must put the blood on the horns of the altar. 19 He must shake blood on the altar seven times to make it clean.
A goat will carry away all the bad things that the people have done
20 Aaron must first atone for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of meeting and the altar. Then he must bring the goat that is alive. 21 He must put his hands on the goat's head. He must speak aloud all the bad things that Israel's people have done. Then all the bad things will be on the goat's head. Aaron must tell a man that he must send the goat away into the desert. 22 The goat will carry all the sins of the people into the desert. The man must send it away into the desert.
23 Aaron must go into the Tent of Meeting. He must take off his special linen clothes. The holy clothes must stay in the Tent of Meeting. 24 He must wash his body in a holy place. He must put on his own clothes. He must leave the holy place. Then he must sacrifice the burnt offerings. They will make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 And he must also burn the fat from the sin offering on the altar.
26 The person who sent the goat away must wash his clothes and his body. He can return to the camp. 27 Aaron had killed a bull and a goat. He took their blood into the Most Holy Place to make atonement. Someone must carry their dead bodies outside the camp. He must burn them. That man must burn the skin, the meat and the inside parts. 28 The man who burnt the animals must wash his clothes and his body. Then he can return to the camp.
29 On the tenth day of the seventh month, Israel's people must not eat any food. This is a rule that you must obey for all time. The people who are travelling with them must not eat any food. None of them must do any work. 30 This day will make them clean from all their sins. The Lord will see them as clean people. This will be the Day of Atonement. 31 It is a day when you do not eat any food. It is a day of rest. This is a rule from God and you must do this every year. 32 The leader of the priests is a chosen son of Aaron. And he must make atonement. He will put on the special linen clothes that are holy. He will bring the people's offerings. 33 He will make atonement for the Most Holy Place. He will make atonement for the Tent of Meeting. He will make atonement for the altar. He will make atonement for the priests and for all the people.
34 He will make atonement for all the Israelites' sins once every year. This rule is for now and for all time.’
The people did everything in the way that the Lord had commanded Moses.
The people must not eat blood
17 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell this to Aaron and his sons and all the people. The Lord has given all these rules. 3 If a person sacrifices a bull, a sheep or a goat in the fields, that is a sin. Or if a person sacrifices it in the camp, that is a sin. 4 The animal is an offering to the Lord. The person should bring it to the door of the tabernacle. He should offer it to the Lord there. The person who offers a sacrifice anywhere else has sinned. He has sacrificed an animal in the wrong way. He must leave the camp. 5 This rule will stop the people giving sacrifices to the Lord in the fields. They must bring their gifts to the priest. They will be friendship offerings to the Lord. The priest will be at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 6 He must shake the blood of the animal on the Lord's altar. That altar is at the door of the Tent of Meeting. The priest must burn the fat. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure. 7 The people give sacrifices in the fields to worship idols that seem like goats. They must never do this again. This rule is for now and for all time.
8 If an Israelite gives a sacrifice or a burnt offering he must offer it at the Tent of Meeting's door. A foreigner may live among you. If he gives a sacrifice he must offer it at the Tent of Meeting's door. 9 If they did not offer it to the Lord at the Tent of Meeting's door, they are sinning. You must send them away from the camp.
10 An Israelite or a foreigner who lives among you must not eat blood. And they must not drink it. If somebody does, God will turn away from him. He will take that person away from his people. 11 The blood of an animal gives it life. You must put the blood on the altar. God has given the blood to you to atone for your sins. It makes your life right again, because of the blood. 12 For this reason, Israel's people must not eat blood. And the people who are travelling with them must not eat blood.[b]
13 A person may catch an animal or a bird that is clean to eat. If he does, he must pour its blood on the ground. He must cover the blood with some earth. 14 The animal's life is in its blood. That is why no Israelite should eat any animal's blood. You must send any person that eats blood away from your people.
15 An Israelite or a foreign person may find a dead animal. If he eats it, he must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening. Then he will become clean. A person might find an animal or a bird that a wild animal has killed. He must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening. 16 If that person does not wash his clothes and his body, it is his own mistake.’[c]
Rules about sex
18 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell Israel's people that I am the Lord their God. 3 They were living in Egypt, but they must not do as the people in Egypt do. Now I am bringing them to live in Canaan. They must not live in the way that the people in Canaan live. They must not do the things that those people do. 4 They must obey my rules. I am the Lord their God. 5 If they obey my rules and my laws, they will continue to live safely. I am the Lord.
6 Tell them this:
A person must not have sex with anyone who belongs to his own family. I am the Lord.
7 Do not have sex with your mother. That would cause your father to be ashamed.
8 Do not have sex with any wife of your father. Your father would be ashamed.
9 Do not have sex with your sister. Do not have sex with a sister who is your mother's daughter or your father's daughter. It does not matter if she was born in your house or in another house. Do not have sex with any sister.
10 Do not have sex with any granddaughter. That would make you ashamed.
11 Do not have sex with the daughter of your father and his wife. She is your sister.
12 Do not have sex with your father's sister. She is his near relative.
13 Do not have sex with your mother's sister. She is her near relative.
14 Do not have sex with the wife of your father's brother. That would make your uncle ashamed. His wife is your aunt.
15 Do not have sex with your son's wife.
16 Do not have sex with your brother's wife. That would make your brother ashamed.
17 Do not have sex with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sex with her son's daughter or with her daughter's daughter. They are her near relatives. It would be an evil thing to do.
18 Do not marry your wife's sister as a second wife. If your wife is still alive, do not have sex with her sister.
19 Do not have sex with a woman at the time when she bleeds each month. She is unclean during that time.
20 Do not have sex with the wife of another man. You would become unclean.
21 Do not offer your child as a sacrifice to the false god, Molech. This would spoil God's honour. He is the Lord.
22 A man must not have sex with another man. That is an evil thing to do.
23 Do not have sex with an animal. That would make you unclean. A woman must not offer herself to an animal to have sex with it. She would be doing a disgusting thing.
24 Do not do any of these things. They would make you unclean. The people who live in Canaan do these things. It made them unclean. God will send those people out of their country. 25 Canaan is unclean because the people did these things. This is why God pushed the people out of that land. 26 But you and the foreigners with you must not do these wrong things. 27 The people in Canaan did these bad things and the land became unclean. 28 If you do these bad things, I will push you out of Canaan's land. I will send you away, like the people before you.
29 You must send away any person who does any of these bad things. 30 All the people must obey my rules. They must not do the bad things that the people in Canaan did. If they did them, my people would become unclean. I am the Lord your God.’
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