The Day of Atonement

1Now Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near the presence of Yahweh and died. 2And Yahweh said to Moses:

“Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the [†]mercy seat which is on the ark, so that he will not die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his [†]body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his [†]body in water and put them on. 5And he shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6Then Aaron shall bring near the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. 7And he shall take the two goats and present them before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 8And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh and the other lot for the [†]scapegoat. 9Then Aaron shall bring near the goat on which the lot for Yahweh fell, and he shall offer it as a sin offering. 10But the goat on which the lot for the [†]scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement upon it, to send it out into the wilderness as the [†]scapegoat.

11“Then Aaron shall bring near the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. 12And he shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before Yahweh and [†]two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring it inside the veil. 13And he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, so that he will not die. 14Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15“Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull. And he shall sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16So he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17Now when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. 18Then he shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. 19With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it and set it apart as holy from the uncleanness of the sons of Israel.

20“And when he finishes making atonement for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring near the live goat. 21Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions [†]in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it out into the wilderness by the hand of a man ready to do this. 22And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an isolated land; and he shall send out the goat in the wilderness.

23“Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there. 24And he shall bathe his [†]body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes and come forth, and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. 26And the one who sent the goat out as the [†]scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his [†]body with water; then afterward he shall come into the camp. 27But 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 taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. 28Then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

29“And this shall be a perpetual statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native or the sojourner who sojourns among you; 30for it is on this day that [†]atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before Yahweh. 31It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a perpetual statute. 32So the priest who is anointed and [†]ordained to minister as a priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, 33and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34Now you shall have this as a perpetual statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.” And just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, so he did.