The Day of Atonement
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The LORD spoke to Moses after 1the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died,
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and the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother not to 2come 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 3I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.
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But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: 4with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and 5a ram for a burnt offering.
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He shall put on 6the 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. 7He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.
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And he shall take from 8the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
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"Aaron shall 9offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall 10make atonement for himself and for his house.
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Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
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And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for 11Azazel.a
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And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering,
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but the goat on which the lot fell for 12Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to 13Azazel.
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"Aaron shall present 14the 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.
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And he shall take 15a 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
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16and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover 17the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.
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And 18he 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.
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19"Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood 20inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.
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Thus he shall 21make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.
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22No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.
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Then he shall go out to the altar that is 23before the LORD and 24make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around.
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And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
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"And when he has made an end of 25atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
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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 26put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.
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The goat shall 27bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and 28he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
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"Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and 29shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there.
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And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and 30offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people.
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And he who lets the goat go to 32Azazel shall wash his clothes and 33bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
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34And 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.
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And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
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"And it shall be a statute to you forever that 35in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall 36afflict yourselvesb and shall do no work, either 37the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.
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For on this day shall atonement be made for you 38to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.
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39It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall 40afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever.
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41And the priest who is anointed and 42consecrated as priest in his father's place 43shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)