Moses anoints Aaron and his sons
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Also bring their special clothes and the olive oil to anoint them as priests. Bring the bull for the sin offering and the two male sheep for sacrifices. Bring the basket of flat bread with no yeast in it. 3 Tell all the people to come together in front of the Tent of Meeting.’
8:2Aaron was Moses' brother.
4 Moses did what the Lord had commanded him to do. All the Israelite people met at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 5 Moses said to the people, ‘The Lord has commanded us to do this.’
Moses puts special clothes on the priests
6 Moses told Aaron and his sons to stand in front of the people. He washed them with water. 7 Moses put the special shirt on Aaron. He tied the long belt around Aaron. He put the priest's robe on him. Then he put the ephod on him, with its belt. He used the belt to tie the ephod on Aaron. 8 He put the breastpiece on Aaron, and he put the Urim and Thummim in its pocket. 9 Moses put the linen hat on Aaron's head. He fixed the thin gold plate on the front of the hat, as a holy crown. Moses did this as the Lord had commanded him to do.
8:8 Urim and Thummim were valuable stones. The leader of the priests put them in the pocket of the ephod. God used the stones to show the people what was right. The ephod was a special robe that the priest wore.
8:9You can read about the special clothes for the priests in Exodus 28. 10 Moses took some of the special olive oil. He splashed it on the tabernacle and on everything in it. He did this to show that they belonged to God. 11 He splashed oil on the altar seven times. He put oil on the altar's tools, on the large bowl for water and on its base. He did this to show that they belonged to God. 12 Then Moses poured some of the oil on Aaron's head to anoint him. This made Aaron ready to serve God as his priest. 13 Then Moses told Aaron's sons to come forward. He put a robe on each of them. He tied long cloth belts around them. He put cloth hats on their heads. Moses did this as the Lord had commanded him to do.
Special offerings for the priests
14 Then Moses brought the bull for the sin offering. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the bull's head. 15 He killed the bull. Moses took some of the blood on his fingers. He put the blood on the four horns of the altar to make the altar clean. He poured out the blood that remained on the ground in front of the altar. In this way, he made the altar holy. It was now ready to make sacrifices for sin offerings.
16 Moses removed the fat that was around the inside parts of the bull. He removed the bottom part of its liver, as well as its two kidneys and the fat around them. He burned all these parts on the altar. 17 But Moses took outside the camp the parts of the bull that remained. There he completely burned its skin, its meat and the food in its stomach. Moses did this as the Lord had commanded him to do.
18 Moses then brought one of the male sheep to be a burnt offering. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the sheep's head. 19 He killed the sheep. Moses splashed its blood onto the sides of the altar. 20 He cut the sheep into pieces. He burned its head, the pieces of meat and the fat on the altar. 21 He used water to wash its inside parts and its legs. He burned the whole sheep on the altar as a burnt offering to the Lord. The smell of this gift while it was burning gave pleasure to the Lord. Moses did this as the Lord had commanded him to do.
22 Moses then brought the other male sheep to be a sacrifice for new priests. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the sheep's head. 23 He killed the sheep. Moses took some of its blood. He put it on Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.
24 Then Moses told Aaron's sons to come forward. He put blood on their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the toes of their right feet. Then he splashed the blood that remained onto the sides of the altar. 25 Moses took the fat part of the sheep's tail and the fat around its inside parts. He also took the bottom part of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat. With all the sheep's fat, he took the top part of its right back leg. 26 Moses took one round loaf of bread from the basket of flat bread that belonged to the Lord. He also took one loaf that had olive oil mixed in the flour. And he took one flat biscuit. He put them on top of the fat parts of the sheep and its right leg.
8:26A biscuit is a small, hard cake.
27 Then Moses put all of them on the hands of Aaron and his sons. They lifted them up as a special offering to the Lord. 28 Moses took them from their hands and he burned them on the altar, on top of the burnt offering. This was an offering for new priests. The smell of this offering while it was burning gave pleasure to the Lord. 29 Then Moses took the meat that was around the sheep's ribs. He lifted it up as a special offering to the Lord. This part belonged to Moses, as the Lord had commanded him.
30 Moses took some of the oil and some of the blood from the altar. He shook them on Aaron and his clothes. He also shook it on Aaron's sons and on their clothes. In this way he made them holy and ready to serve the Lord.
31 Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, ‘Cook the meat that remains at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Eat the meat there, with the bread that is in the basket of bread for the offering. That is what the Lord has commanded you to do. 32 Completely burn any meat and bread that remain. 33 You must stay at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting for seven days. That is the time to prepare you to serve God as priests. You must not leave until the seven days have finished. 34 The things that we have done today are what the Lord has commanded us to do. We have done it to make you clean from your sins. 35 Remember to stay at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting for seven days and seven nights. Do everything that the Lord has commanded, so that he does not punish you with death. This is what the Lord has commanded me.’
36 So Aaron and his sons did everything that the Lord had told Moses they must do.
