Rules about the Day of Atonement
1 The Lord spoke to Moses after two of Aaron's sons had died. They had burned incense in front of the Lord in a way that was wrong. The Lord punished them with death. 2 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell your brother Aaron that he must not go behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle. He must not do that at any time that he wants to. I appear in a cloud over the lid of the Covenant Box that is in there. So Aaron will die if he goes in there when it is not the proper time.
16:1Aaron's two sons who died were Nadab and Abihu. See Leviticus 10:1-2. Aaron had two other sons, Eleazar and Ithamar. 16:2The Hebrew name for the special lid shows that it was a place where God would forgive sins. It was a flat piece of gold to cover the top of the box.
3 This is what Aaron must do when he goes into the holy place. He must bring a young bull for a sin offering. He must also bring a male sheep for a burnt offering. 4 He must wash his whole body before he puts on his special clothes, because they are holy. He must wear a holy linen robe and linen trousers next to his skin. He must tie a linen belt around his body. He must put a linen hat on his head. 5 Israel's people must also give him two male goats for a sin offering and one male sheep for a burnt offering.
6 Aaron must offer the bull as a sin offering. This will make him clean from his own sins. It will also make the people in his house clean from their sins. 7 Then he must take the two goats to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. There he must offer them to the Lord. 8 He must throw special stones to decide what he should do with each goat. One stone will have a mark for the Lord. The other stone will have a mark for Azazel. 9 Aaron must take the goat that the stone showed is for the Lord. He must kill it as a sin offering. 10 But he must bring the other goat in front of the Lord while it is alive. He will send it away to escape into the desert. In that way, it will take away the sins of the people and it will make them clean.
16:8The stone ‘for Azazel’ showed which goat must go free into the wilderness. That is the ‘ escape goat’.
11 Aaron must offer the bull which is for a sin offering. This will make him clean from his own sins. It will also make the people in his house clean from their sins. 12 He must take a pot of hot coals that burn on the altar in front of the Lord. He must fill both his hands with incense that has a sweet smell. He must take the hot coals and the incense with him behind the curtain. 13 Then he must put the incense onto the hot coals in front of the Lord. The smoke from the incense will rise up over the lid of the Covenant Box. If he does this, he will not die. 14 Then he must take the blood from the bull. He must use his finger to splash blood onto the lid of the Covenant Box. He must also splash some blood seven times with his finger in front of the Covenant Box.
15 Aaron must then kill the goat which is the sin offering for the people. He must take the goat's blood behind the curtain. He must use it in the same way that he used the bull's blood. He must shake it on the lid of the Covenant Box and in front of the Covenant Box. 16 In this way Aaron will make the Most Holy Place clean. He must do this because of the sins of Israel's people that make them unclean. He must do the same thing for the whole Tent of Meeting to make it clean. The tent stands among Israel's people who are unclean. 17 While Aaron is doing this, nobody may go into the Tent of Meeting. They must wait while he goes into the Most Holy Place to make everything clean. He must also make himself, his family and all the people of Israel clean from their sins. Everyone must wait outside until Aaron comes out of the Tent of Meeting.
18 When he comes out, he must go to the altar that stands in front of the Lord's tent. He must make the altar clean. He must take some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood. He must put some blood on all the four horns of the altar. 19 Then he must splash some of the blood on the altar seven times with his finger. In this way he will make it clean for the Lord to use. He must do this because Israel's people are unclean.
