The Day of Atonement

1 The Lord spoke to Moses after ^cthe 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 ^dcome 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 ^eI will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: ^fwith a bull from the herd for a sin offering and ^ga ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on ^hthe 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. ⁱHe shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5 And he shall take from ^jthe congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

20 “And when he has made an end of ^xatoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall ^yput them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall ^zbear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and ^ahe shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

23 “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and ^bshall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. 24 And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and ^coffer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 And ^dthe fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26 And he who lets the goat go to ^eAzazel shall wash his clothes and ^fbathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27 ^gAnd the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. 28 And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

29 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that ^hin the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall ⁱafflict yourselves¹ and shall do no work, either ^jthe native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you ^kto cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 31 ^lIt is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall ⁱafflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 ^mAnd the priest who is anointed and ⁿconsecrated as priest in his father’s place ^oshall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. 33 He shall make atonement for ^pthe holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for ^qthe altar, and he shall make atonement for ^rthe priests and for ^sall the people of the assembly. 34 And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel ^tonce in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron² did as the Lord commanded Moses.