Chronological

16 After the death of Aaron’s two sons, when they drew near before the Lord [offered false fire] and died,^(A)

² The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother he ^[a]must not come at all times into the Holy of Holies within the veil before the mercy seat upon the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.^(B)

³ But Aaron shall come into the holy enclosure in this way: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

⁴ He shall put on the holy linen undergarment, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his body, and be girded with the linen girdle or sash, and with the linen turban or miter shall he be attired; these are the holy garments; he shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.

⁵ He shall take [at the expense] of the congregation of the Israelites two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶ And Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself and make atonement for himself and for his house [the other priests].

⁷ He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

⁸ Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats—one lot for the Lord, the other lot for Azazel or removal.

⁹ And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell and offer him as a sin offering.

¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel or removal shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over him, that he may be let go into the wilderness for Azazel (for dismissal).

¹¹ Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for his own sins and shall make atonement for himself and for his house [the other priests], and shall kill the bull as the sin offering for himself.

¹² He shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the [bronze] altar before the Lord, and his two hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil [into the Holy of Holies],

¹³ And put the incense on the fire [in the censer] before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon [the ark of] the Testimony, lest he die.

¹⁴ He shall take of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the front [the east side] of the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵ Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for [the sins of] the people and bring its blood within the veil [into the Holy of Holies] and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.^(C)

¹⁶ Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the Israelites and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so shall he do for the Tent of Meeting, that remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness.^(D)

¹⁷ There shall be no man in the Tent of Meeting when the high priest goes in to make atonement in the Holy of Holies [within the veil] until he comes out and has made atonement for his own sins and those of his house [the other priests] and of all the congregation of Israel.

¹⁸ And he shall go out to the altar [of burnt offering in the court] which is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar round about.

¹⁹ And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his fingers seven times and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

²⁰ And when he has finished atoning for the Holy of Holies and the Tent of Meeting and the altar [of burnt offering], he shall present the live goat;

²¹ And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions, all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat [the sin-bearer], and send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man ^[b]who is timely (ready, fit).

²² The goat shall bear upon himself all their iniquities, carrying them to a land cut off (a land of forgetfulness and separation, not inhabited)! And the man leading it shall let the goat go in the wilderness.^(E)

²³ Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting and put off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy of Holies, and leave them there;

²⁴ And he shall bathe his body with water in a sacred place and put on his garments, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and that of the people, and make atonement for himself and for them.

²⁵ And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn upon the altar.

²⁶ The man who led the sin-bearing goat out and let him go for Azazel or removal shall wash his clothes and bathe his body, and afterward he may come into the camp.

²⁷ The bull and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy of Holies, shall be carried forth without the camp; their skins, their flesh, and their dung shall be burned with fire.^(F)

²⁸ And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

²⁹ It shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month [nearly October] on the tenth day of the month you shall afflict yourselves [by fasting with penitence and humiliation] and do no work at all, either the native-born or the stranger who dwells temporarily among you.

³⁰ For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.^(G)

³¹ It is a sabbath of [solemn] rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves [by fasting with penitence and humiliation]; it is a statute forever.

³² And the priest who shall be anointed and consecrated to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments;

³³ He shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, for the Tent of Meeting, and for the altar [of burnt offering in the court], and shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

³⁴ This shall be an everlasting statute for you, that atonement may be made for the Israelites for all their sins once a year. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

17 And the Lord said to Moses,

² Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites, This is what the Lord has commanded:

³ If any man of the house of Israel kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp or kills it outside the camp

⁴ And does not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer it as an offering to the Lord before the Lord’s tabernacle, [guilt for shedding] ^[c]blood shall be imputed to that man; he has shed blood and shall be cut off from among his people.

⁵ This is so that the Israelites, rather than offer their sacrifices [to idols] in the open field [where they slew them], may bring them to the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest, to offer them as peace offerings to the Lord.

⁶ And the priest shall dash the blood on the altar of the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat for a sweet and satisfying fragrance to the Lord.

⁷ So they shall no more offer their sacrifices to goatlike gods or demons or field spirits after which they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.

⁸ And you shall say to them, Whoever of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell temporarily among you offers a burnt offering or sacrifice

⁹ And does not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer it to the Lord shall be cut off from among his people.

¹⁰ Any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell temporarily among them who eats any kind of blood, against that person I will set My face and I will cut him off from among his people [that he may not be included in the atonement made for them].^(H)

¹¹ For the life (the animal soul) is in the blood, and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life [which it represents].^(I)

¹² Therefore I have said to the Israelites, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who dwells temporarily among you eat blood.

¹³ And any of the Israelites or of the strangers who sojourn among them who takes in hunting any clean beast or bird shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust.

¹⁴ As for the life of all flesh, the blood of it represents the life of it; therefore I said to the Israelites, You shall partake of the blood of no kind of flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats of it shall be cut off.

¹⁵ And every person who eats what dies of itself or was torn by beasts, whether he is native-born or a temporary resident, shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening; then shall he be clean.^(J)

¹⁶ But if he does not wash his clothes or bathe his body, he shall bear his own iniquity [for it shall not be borne by the sacrifice of atonement].

18 And the Lord said to Moses,

² Say to the Israelites, I am the Lord your God.

³ You shall not do as was done in the land of Egypt in which you dwelt, nor shall you do as is done in the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you; neither shall you walk in their statutes.

⁴ You shall do My ordinances and keep My statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God.

⁵ You shall therefore keep My statutes and My ordinances which, if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord.^(K)

⁶ None of you shall approach anyone close of kin to him to have sexual relations. I am the Lord.

⁷ The nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother, you shall not uncover; she is your mother; you shall not have intercourse with her.

⁸ The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.

⁹ You shall not have intercourse with or uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father or of your mother, whether born at home or born abroad.

¹⁰ You must not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; their nakedness you shall not uncover, for they are your own flesh.

¹¹ You must not have intercourse with your father’s wife’s daughter; begotten by your father, she is your sister; you shall not uncover her nakedness.

¹² You shall not have intercourse with your father’s sister; she is your father’s near kinswoman.

¹³ You shall not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s near kinswoman.

¹⁴ You shall not have intercourse with your father’s brother’s wife; you shall not approach 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 have intercourse with her.

¹⁶ You shall not have intercourse with your brother’s wife; she belongs to your brother.

¹⁷ You shall not marry a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse; they are [her] near kinswomen; it is wickedness and an outrageous offense.

¹⁸ You must not marry a woman in addition to her sister, to be a rival to her, having sexual relations with the second sister when the first one is alive.

¹⁹ Also you shall not have intercourse with a woman during her [menstrual period or similar] uncleanness.

²⁰ Moreover, you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her.

²¹ You shall not give any of your children to pass through the fire and sacrifice them to Molech [the fire god], nor shall you profane the name of your God [by giving it to false gods]. I am the Lord.

²² You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.^(L)

²³ Neither shall you lie with any beast and defile yourself with it; neither shall any woman yield herself to a beast to lie with it; it is confusion, perversion, and degradedly carnal.

²⁴ Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in all these things the nations are defiled which I am casting out before you.

²⁵ And the land is defiled; therefore I visit the iniquity of it upon it, and the land itself vomits out her inhabitants.

²⁶ So you shall keep My statutes and My ordinances and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither the native-born nor any stranger who sojourns among you,

²⁷ For all these abominations have the men of the land done who were before you, and the land is defiled—

²⁸ [Do none of these things] lest the land spew you out when you defile it as it spewed out the nation that was before you.

²⁹ Whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from among [his] people.

³⁰ So keep My charge: do not practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you and defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.