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    Leviticus · 34 verses

    Leviticus 16

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    The chapter

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    A live goat is loaded with Israel’s iniquities and sent into the wilderness, while another goat—chosen by lot for the LORD—is sacrificed. The ceremony has room for both blood behind the veil and a goat making its rather remarkable exit.

    Behind the veil, and then out into the wildernessvv. 1–22

    The instructions begin with a warning: Aaron must not enter freely into the Most Holy Place, because the LORD appears in the cloud above the mercy seat, and entering wrongly means death. Aaron therefore bathes, dresses in sacred linen, and brings a bull for himself and his household, while Israel supplies two goats and a ram. At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, lots give the goats their astonishingly unequal careers: one is “for the LORD,” the other “for the scapegoat.” The first is sacrificed. The second remains alive until Aaron lays both hands on its head and confesses over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of Israel. Then a man appointed for the task leads it into the wilderness, carrying the whole burden into a solitary place. In the meantime, Aaron’s bull’s blood and the sacrificed goat’s blood are sprinkled before the mercy seat, while fragrant incense makes a cloud so that Aaron will not die. Even the Most Holy Place and the Tent of Meeting are purified because of the impurities among Israel; the altar receives its blood as well, and is sprinkled seven times to cleanse and consecrate it.

    Linen put away, and everything burned outsidevv. 23–34

    When the inner work is finished, Aaron takes off the linen garments and leaves them in the Tent of Meeting. He bathes, puts on his own clothes, and goes out to offer the burnt offerings for himself and the people, while the fat of the sin offering goes on the altar. The man who released the scapegoat must wash before returning to the camp. The bull and the other goat have a less ceremonious final destination: they are carried outside the camp, where their hides, flesh, and dung must be burned up. Their burner also washes before reentering. The day is then fixed as a permanent statute: the tenth day of the seventh month, a day without work for native and foreigner alike, and a Sabbath of complete rest. The anointed priest who succeeds his father will perform the rite once a year for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, the altar, the priests, and the whole assembly. The chapter closes with Moses receiving the command, and all of it being done accordingly—a neat ending to a ceremony involving blood, incense, two goats, and a conspicuous quantity of dung.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Lev 16:1Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the LORD.

    2. Lev 16:2And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

    3. Lev 16:3This is how Aaron is to enter the Holy Place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

    4. Lev 16:4He is to wear the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments. He must tie a linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are holy garments, and he must bathe himself with water before he wears them.

    5. Lev 16:5And he shall take from the congregation of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

    6. Lev 16:6Aaron is to present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.

    7. Lev 16:7Then he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

    8. Lev 16:8After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat,

    9. Lev 16:9he shall present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering.

    10. Lev 16:10But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement by sending it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

    11. Lev 16:11When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.

    12. Lev 16:12Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil.

    13. Lev 16:13He is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the cloud of incense will cover the mercy seat above the Testimony, so that he will not die.

    14. Lev 16:14And he is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the mercy seat.

    15. Lev 16:15Aaron shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the veil, and with its blood he must do as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.

    16. Lev 16:16So he shall make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the impurities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting which abides among them in the midst of their impurities.

    17. Lev 16:17No one may be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he leaves, after he has made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel.

    18. Lev 16:18Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar.

    19. Lev 16:19He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

    20. Lev 16:20When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he is to bring forward the live goat.

    21. Lev 16:21Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.

    22. Lev 16:22The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.

    23. Lev 16:23Then Aaron is to enter the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen garments he put on before entering the Most Holy Place, and leave them there.

    24. Lev 16:24He is to bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his own clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering to make atonement for himself and for the people.

    25. Lev 16:25He is also to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

    26. Lev 16:26The man who released the goat as the scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

    27. Lev 16:27The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; and their hides, flesh, and dung must be burned up.

    28. Lev 16:28The one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.

    29. Lev 16:29This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—

    30. Lev 16:30because on this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

    31. Lev 16:31It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.

    32. Lev 16:32The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest shall make atonement. He will put on the sacred linen garments

    33. Lev 16:33and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the assembly.

    34. Lev 16:34This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement once a year for the Israelites because of all their sins.” And all this was done as the LORD had commanded Moses.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 293 passages were voted onto 33 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 1Leviticus 10:1–2Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense, and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to His command.
    • 2Exodus 30:10Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. The altar is most holy to the LORD.”
    • 15Hebrews 9:7But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
    • 21 Kings 8:10–12And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD
    • 2Hebrews 10:19–20Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
    • 4Exodus 28:39–43You are to weave the tunic with fine linen, make the turban of fine linen, and fashion an embroidered sash.
    • 101 John 2:2He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
    • 12Exodus 30:34–38The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures,
    • 21Isaiah 53:6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
    • 2Hebrews 9:25Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
    • 3Leviticus 4:3If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
    • 4Exodus 30:20Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the LORD, they must wash with water so that they will not die.
    • 4Ezekiel 44:17–18When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen garments; they must not wear anything made of wool when they minister at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple.
    • 12Revelation 8:3–4Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
    • 212 Corinthians 5:21God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
    • 27Leviticus 4:21Then he is to take the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.

    Onward

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