CHAPTER 16

¹And the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons when they came forward before the LORD and died. ²And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron your brother, that he not come at all times into the sacred zone within the curtain in front of the cover that is on the Ark, lest he die. For in the cloud I shall appear over the cover. ³With this shall Aaron come into the sacred zone, with a bull from the herd for an offense offering and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴A sacral linen tunic he shall wear and linen breeches shall be on his body and with a linen sash he shall gird himself and a linen turban he shall don. They are sacral garments. And he shall bathe his body in water and put them on. ⁵And from the community of Israelites he shall take two he-goats for an offense offering and one ram for a burnt offering. ⁶And Aaron shall bring forward the offense-offering bull which is his and atone for himself and for his household. ⁷And he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁸And he shall put lots on the two goats, one for the LORD and one for Azazel. ⁹And Aaron shall bring forward the goat for which the lot for the LORD comes up, and he shall make it an offense offering. ¹⁰And the goat for which the lot for Azazel comes up shall be set live before the LORD to atone upon it, to send it off to Azazel in the wilderness. ¹¹And Aaron shall bring forward the offense-offering bull which is his, and he shall atone for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the offense-offering bull which is his. ¹²And he shall take a panful of fiery coals from the altar, from before the LORD, and a double handful of fine aromatic incense, and bring it within the curtain. ¹³And he shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the cloud of incense shall envelope the covering that is over the Ark of the Covenant, lest he die. ¹⁴And he shall take from the blood of the bull and sprinkle with his finger over the surface of the cover on the east side, and before the curtain he shall sprinkle seven times from the blood with his finger. ¹⁵And he shall slaughter the offense-offering goat which is the people’s and bring its blood within the curtain, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the cover and before the cover. ¹⁶And he shall atone over the sacred zone for the uncleannesses of the Israelites and for their sins, according to all their offenses, and thus he shall do for the Tent of Meeting that dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. ¹⁷And no person shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he comes into the sacred zone to atone until he goes out, and he shall atone for himself and for his household and for the whole assembly of Israel. ¹⁸And he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and atone for it, and he shall take from the blood of the bull and from the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar all around. ¹⁹And he shall sprinkle over it from the blood with his finger seven times and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the Israelites. ²⁰And when he finishes atoning for the sacred zone and for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. ²¹And Aaron shall lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the transgressions of the Israelites and all their sins, according to all their offenses, and he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it off in the hand of a man for the hour to the wilderness. ²²And the goat shall bear upon it all their transgressions to a remote region, and he shall send off the goat to the wilderness. ²³And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments that he wore when he came into the sacred zone and lay them down there. ²⁴And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and do his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering, and he shall atone for himself and for the people. ²⁵And the fat of the offense offering he shall turn to smoke on the altar. ²⁶And he who sent off the goat to Azazel shall launder his garments and bathe his body in water, and after he may come into the camp. ²⁷And the offense-offering bull and the offense-offering goat whose blood has been brought to atone in the sacred zone shall be taken out beyond the camp, and they shall burn their hides in fire and their flesh and their dung. ²⁸And he who burns them shall launder his garments and bathe his body in water, and after he may come into the camp. ²⁹And it shall be a perpetual statute for you: in the seventh month on the tenth of the month you shall afflict yourselves and no task shall you do, the native and the sojourner who sojourns in your midst. ³⁰For on this day it will be atoned for you, to cleanse you of all your offenses, before the LORD you shall be cleansed. ³¹It is a sabbath of sabbaths for you, and you shall afflict yourselves, an everlasting statute. ³²And the priest shall atone, who will be anointed and who will be installed to serve as priest in his father’s stead, and he shall put on the linen garments, the sacral garments. ³³And he shall atone for the holy sanctuary and for the Tent of Meeting, and he shall atone for the altar, and for the priests and for all the assembled people he shall atone. ³⁴And this shall be an everlasting statute for you to atone for the Israelites for all their offenses once in the year.” And he did as the LORD had charged Moses.