Out of Egypt · c. 1445 BC
Chapter 16
The Day of Atonement
The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
For parents
The chapter opens by recalling how Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu died: fire came out from the Lord and devoured them. The Lord then warns that Aaron will die if he comes behind the veil at just any time (Leviticus 16:1–2, 13; 10:1–2). A bull and a goat are killed. Their blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat and in front of it, and put on the altar. Their bodies are burned outside the camp (16:11–27). Leviticus 17 forbids eating blood and says that whoever kills an animal without bringing it to the Tent of Meeting, offers a sacrifice elsewhere, or eats blood will be “cut off” from his people (17:4, 9, 10, 14). It compares sacrificing to goat idols with acting like a prostitute (17:7). It is told plainly, without gore.
The spoke to after the two sons of had come near the Lord and died. and had each put fire in his and laid on it. They had offered to the Lord, fire he had not commanded them to offer. Then fire came out from the Lord’s presence and devoured them.
The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, your brother, that he must not come into the at just any time. That is the place behind the , where the sits on top of the . If he comes in at just any time, he will die, because I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.”
The veil was a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet and fine linen, with on it. It hung inside the and closed off the Most Holy Place. Behind it stood the ark of the covenant, with the covenant inside the ark and the mercy seat on top. The Lord had said he would meet with Moses there. He would speak to him from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim.
The Lord told Moses that Aaron was to come into the with a young bull for a and a ram for a . He was to wear the linen tunic and linen trousers, with a linen sash and a linen turban. These were the holy clothes. He was to bathe in water first, and then put them on.
He was to take two male goats from the community of the for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
Aaron was to offer the bull for his own sin offering, and make for himself and his family.
He was to take the two goats and set them in the Lord’s presence at the door of the . Then Aaron was to cast for the two goats. One lot was for the Lord, and the other lot was for the .
Aaron was to bring forward the goat chosen by the lot for the Lord. He was to offer it as a sin offering.
But the goat chosen by the lot for the scapegoat was to be brought before the Lord alive, to make atonement. Then it was to be sent away into the wilderness as the scapegoat.
Then Aaron was to present the bull for his own sin offering and make atonement for himself and his family. He was to kill this bull, his own sin offering.
He was to fill a censer with hot coals from the in the Lord’s presence. He was to take two handfuls of sweet incense, ground fine, and bring the coals and the incense behind the veil. There, in the Lord’s presence, he was to put the incense on the fire, so that the cloud of incense would cover the mercy seat, which sat above the covenant inside the ark. That way he would not die.
With his finger he was to sprinkle some of the bull’s blood on the mercy seat, on its east side. He was also to sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the mercy seat.
Then he was to kill the goat for the people’s sin offering and bring its blood behind the veil. He was to do the same with its blood as he had done with the bull’s blood: sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of it.
He was to make atonement for the Most Holy Place, behind the veil, because the Israelites were , and because of the ways they had disobeyed, all their sins. He was to do this for the Tent of Meeting too, the tent that stayed with them in the middle of their uncleanness.
When he went in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place, no one was to be in the Tent of Meeting. No one was to be there until he had made atonement for himself, his household and all the assembly of Israel, and had come out.
Then he was to go out to the altar that stood in the Lord’s presence and make atonement for it. He was to take blood from the bull and from the goat and put it on the horns at the altar’s corners, all the way around. Seven times he was to sprinkle some of the blood on the altar with his finger. That would cleanse it from the Israelites’ uncleanness and make it holy.
When Aaron was done making atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar, he was to bring forward the live goat.
He was to lay both his hands on its head and confess over it all the wrongdoing of the Israelites, all the ways they had disobeyed, all their sins. He was to put them on the goat’s head. Then he was to send the goat off into the wilderness, and a man who stood ready would take it there.
The goat would carry all their wrongdoing on itself into a lonely land, and he was to let the goat go in the wilderness.
Then Aaron was to come into the Tent of Meeting. There he was to take off the linen clothes he had put on when he went into the Most Holy Place, and leave them there. He was to bathe in water in a holy place and then put on his garments. After that he was to come out and offer his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering, and make atonement for himself and for the people. On the altar he was to burn the fat of the sin offering.
The man who let the scapegoat go was to wash his clothes and bathe in water. After that he could come back into the camp.
The blood of the bull and the goat for the sin offering had been brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement. Now the bull and the goat themselves were to be carried outside the camp, and their skins, their meat and their dung were to be burned. The man who burned them was to wash his clothes and bathe in water. After that he could come back into the camp.
“This is to be a rule for you forever,” the Lord said. “On , you are to . No one is to do any kind of work, whether he was born one of you or is a foreigner who lives among you.
“That is because on this day atonement is to be made for you, to make you clean. In the Lord’s presence you will be clean of all your sins. It is a Sabbath for you, a day of complete rest, and you are to afflict your souls. It is a rule forever.
“The who is anointed and set apart to take his father’s place as priest is to make the atonement. He is to put on the holy linen clothes. He is to make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar, and for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.
“This is to be a rule for you forever: once every year, atonement is to be made for the Israelites, because of all their sins.” It was done as the Lord commanded Moses.
The Lord gave Moses a message for Aaron, his sons and all the Israelites, telling them what the Lord had commanded.
If any Israelite killed a bull, a lamb or a goat, inside the camp or outside it, he had to bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting. There he had to offer it to the Lord, in front of the Lord’s tabernacle. If he didn’t, that man would be held to blame for the blood. He had shed blood, and he was to be from his people.
This was so that the Israelites would bring to the Lord the sacrifices they had been offering out in the open fields. They were to bring them to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice them as to the Lord. The priest would sprinkle the blood on the Lord’s altar at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and burn the fat to make a pleasant smell for the Lord.
They were not to offer their sacrifices to the any more. They had been running after those idols, acting like . This was to be a rule for them forever, for every generation to come.
Moses was to tell them this too. If any Israelite, or any foreigner living among them, offered a burnt offering or a sacrifice, he had to bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice it to the Lord. If he didn’t, that man was to be cut off from his people.
“If anyone from the family of Israel, or any foreigner living among them, eats any kind of blood,” the Lord said, “I will set myself against that person who eats blood, and I will cut him off from among his people.
“That is because the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. It is the blood that makes atonement, because of the life. That is why I have told the Israelites, ‘No one among you may eat blood, and no foreigner who lives among you may eat blood.’
“If any Israelite, or any foreigner living among them, goes hunting and catches an animal or a bird that people are allowed to eat, he is to pour out its blood and cover it with dust. In every creature, the blood and the life go together. That is why I told the Israelites, ‘Don’t eat the blood of any kind of creature, because every creature’s life is its blood. Whoever eats it will be cut off.’
“Anyone who eats an animal that died by itself, or one torn by animals, is to wash his clothes and bathe in water. That goes for someone born an Israelite and for a foreigner too. He will be unclean until evening, and then he will be clean. But if he doesn’t wash his clothes or bathe his body, he will carry the guilt of his wrongdoing.”