Leviticus 16:1-14

English Standard Version

The Day of Atonement

16 The Lord spoke to Moses after ^(A)the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, ² and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to ^(B)come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For ^(C)I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. ³ But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: ^(D)with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and ^(E)a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on ^(F)the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. ^(G)He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. ⁵ And he shall take from ^(H)the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶ “Aaron shall ^(I)offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall ^(J)make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷ Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for ^(K)Azazel.^{[a] 9} And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, ¹⁰ but the goat on which the lot fell for ^(L)Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to ^(M)Azazel.

¹¹ “Aaron shall present ^(N)the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. ¹² And he shall take ^(O)a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil ^13 (P)and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover ^(Q)the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. ¹⁴ And ^(R)he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.