The Day of Atonement
(Leviticus 23:26–32; Numbers 29:7–11)

1And YHWH spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they approached the face of YHWH and died. 2And YHWH said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron your brother, and he shall not come at any time into the Holy Place† inside the veil before the face of the mercy seat† that is on the ark, and he will not die. For in the cloud I will appear above the mercy seat.

3In this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place with a bull, a son of the herd, as a sin offering, and a ram as a burnt offering. 4And He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments he shall have on his body, and he shall be girded with a linen sash, and he shall be attired with the linen turban; these are holy garments. And he shall wash his body in the water and put them on. 5And from the congregation of the sons of Israel he shall take two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering.

6And Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. 7And He shall take the two goats and present them before the face of YHWH at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

8And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for YHWH and one lot for Azazel.† 9And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the lot for YHWH fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10And the goat on which the lot for Azazel fell shall be presented alive before the face of YHWH, to make atonement upon it and to let it go to Azazel into the wilderness.

11And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering that is for himself, and he shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering, which is for himself. 12And he shall take the fullness of the censer of burning coals of fire from the altar before YHWH, and the fullness of his handfuls of fine incense of spices, and bring it inside the veil. 13And he shall put the incense on the fire before the face of YHWH, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony,† that he will not die. 14And He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the face of the mercy seat; and on the east side before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle the blood seven times with his finger.

15And he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood to the inside of the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the face of the mercy seat.

16And he shall make atonement upon the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so shall he do for the Tent of Meeting, that dwelling among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17And no man shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.

18And he shall go out to the altar that is before the face of YHWH and make atonement upon it; and he shall take some of the blood of the bull, and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19And he shall sprinkle on it some of the blood with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the sons of Israel.

20And when he has made an end from making atonement for the Holy Place and the Tent of Meeting and the altar, then he shall bring the living goat. 21And Aaron shall lay his two hands on the head of the living goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, and he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22And the goat shall carry on itself all their iniquities, to a land of separation; and he shall send away the goat into the wilderness.

23And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting, and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. 24And he shall wash his body with the water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come out, and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.

26And the one sending away the goat to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in the water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

27And the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins and their flesh and their dung. 28And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in the water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

29And this shall be an everlasting statute for you⁺: In the seventh month on the tenth of the month you⁺ shall afflict your⁺ souls,† and you⁺ shall not do any work—the native and the sojourner who dwells among you⁺. 30For on this day he shall make atonement upon you⁺ to cleanse you⁺ from all your⁺ sins before the face of YHWH, that you⁺ may be clean. 31It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you⁺, and you⁺ shall afflict your⁺ souls; it is an everlasting statute.

32And the priest who is anointed and whose hand is consecrated to minister as priest in place of his father shall make atonement and put on the linen garments, the holy garments. 33And he shall make atonement upon the Most Holy Place† and the Tent of Meeting; and he shall make atonement upon the altar; and he shall make atonement upon the priests and upon all the people of the assembly. 34And this shall be an everlasting statute for you⁺, to make atonement upon the sons of Israel, for all their sins, once in the year.”

And it was done as YHWH had commanded Moses.

Footnotes:

2 Or the Most Holy Place; also in verses 16, 17, 20, 23, and 27
2 Or atonement cover; here and throughout this chapter
8 Or for the scapegoat; similarly twice in verse 10 and once in verse 26
13 The Testimony refers to the stone tablets in the ark of the covenant inscribed with the Ten Commandments.
29 Or humble yourselves or deny yourselves; also in verse 31
33 Or the Holy Sanctuary