Leviticus 7-8

Easy-to-Read Version

Guilt Offerings

7 “These are the rules for the guilt offering, which is very holy: ² A priest must kill the guilt offering in the same place where they kill the burnt offerings. Then he must sprinkle the blood from the guilt offering around the altar.

³ “The priest must offer all the fat from the guilt offering. He must offer the fat tail and the fat that covers the inner parts. ⁴ He must offer the two kidneys and the fat covering them at the lower back muscle. He must also offer the fat part of the liver. He must remove it with the kidneys. ⁵ He must bring these things to the altar as a gift to the Lord. It is a guilt offering.

⁶ “Any male in a priest’s family may eat the guilt offering. It is very holy, so it must be eaten in a holy place. ⁷ The guilt offering is like the sin offering. The same rules are for both offerings. The priest who does the sacrificing will get the meat for food. ⁸ He will also get the skin^[a] from the burnt offering. ⁹ Every grain offering belongs to the priest who offers it. That priest will get the grain offerings that were baked in an oven, or cooked on a frying pan, or in a baking dish. ¹⁰ The grain offerings will belong to Aaron’s sons. It doesn’t make any difference if the grain offerings are dry or mixed with oil. The sons of Aaron will all share this food.

Fellowship Offerings

¹¹ “This is the law of the sacrifice of fellowship offerings that you bring to the Lord: ¹² People can bring fellowship offerings to show their thanks to God. If you bring your sacrifice to give thanks, you should also bring unleavened bread mixed with oil, wafers with oil poured over them, and loaves of fine flour mixed with oil. ¹³ You must also bring loaves of bread made with yeast to go with your fellowship offering. ¹⁴ Offer one each of these different kinds of bread as a gift to the Lord. Then it will belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the fellowship offerings. ¹⁵ The meat of the fellowship offering must be eaten on the same day it is offered as a way of showing thanks to God. None of the meat should remain until the next morning.

¹⁶ “If you bring a fellowship offering simply because you want to give a gift to God or because it is part of a special promise you made to him, the sacrifice should be eaten the same day you offer it. But if there is any left, it must be eaten the next day. ¹⁷ If any meat from this sacrifice is still left over on the third day, it must be burned in the fire. ¹⁸ If anyone eats the meat from the fellowship offering on the third day, the Lord will not accept it as a sacrifice. It will have no value for that person, and to the Lord it will be like rotten meat! Whoever eats it will be responsible for their sin.

¹⁹ “People must not eat any of the meat that touches anything unclean. They must burn this meat in the fire. Whoever is clean may eat the meat from the fellowship offering. ²⁰ But anyone who is unclean and eats the meat from the fellowship offerings that was offered to the Lord must be separated from their people.

²¹ “If you touch something that is unclean, it doesn’t matter if it was made unclean by a person, an animal, or some disgusting thing, you will become unclean. And if you eat any of the meat from the fellowship offerings that was given to the Lord, you must be separated from your people.”

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Tell the Israelites: You must not eat any fat from your cattle, sheep, or goats. ²⁴ You may use the fat from any animal that has died by itself or was torn by other animals, but you must never eat it. ²⁵ Whoever eats the fat from an animal that was offered as a gift to the Lord must be separated from their people.

²⁶ “No matter where you live, you must never eat blood from any bird or any animal. ²⁷ Anyone who eats blood must be separated from their people.”

Rules for the Offerings Presented to God

²⁸ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁹ “Tell the Israelites: If you bring a fellowship offering to the Lord, you must present that gift to the Lord yourself. ³⁰ You must bring the fat and the breast of the animal to the priest. Then he will lift up the breast in front of the Lord to show it was presented to God. ³¹ The priest will burn the fat on the altar, but the breast of the animal will belong to Aaron and his sons. ³² You must also give the right thigh from the fellowship offering as a gift to the priest. ³³ That part of the fellowship offering will belong to the priest^[b] who carries the blood and fat to the altar. ³⁴ I will accept the breast that was lifted up and the gift of the right thigh from the Israelites. Then I will give these things to Aaron and his sons. This is their share from the fellowship offerings of the Israelites forever.”

³⁵ Those parts from the gifts offered to the Lord were given to Aaron and his sons. Whenever Aaron and his sons serve as the Lord’s priests, they get that share of the sacrifices. ³⁶ The Lord commanded the Israelites to give those parts to the priests once they have been anointed. That will be their share from the Israelites forever.

³⁷ These are the laws about burnt offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, fellowship offerings, and offerings for when the priests are appointed. ³⁸ The Lord gave these laws to Moses on Mount Sinai when he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the Lord in the desert of Sinai.

Moses Appoints the Priests

8 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Take Aaron and his sons with him and the clothes, the anointing oil, the bull of the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread. ³ Then gather the people together at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.”

⁴ Moses did what the Lord commanded him. The people met together at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. ⁵ Then Moses said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded must be done.”

⁶ Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water. ⁷ Moses put the woven shirt on Aaron and tied the cloth belt around him. Then Moses put the robe and the ephod on Aaron and tied the beautiful cloth belt around him. ⁸ Moses put the judgment pouch on Aaron and put the Urim and Thummim inside its pocket. ⁹ He also put the turban on Aaron’s head. He put the strip of gold on the front of the turban. This strip of gold is the holy crown. Moses did this just as the Lord had commanded.

¹⁰ Then Moses took the anointing oil and sprinkled it on the Holy Tent and on everything in it. In this way he made them holy. ¹¹ He sprinkled some of the anointing oil on the altar seven times. He sprinkled the oil on the altar, on all its tools and dishes, and on the bowl and its base. In this way he made them holy. ¹² He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head to make him holy. ¹³ Then Moses brought Aaron’s sons forward. He put their woven shirts on them, tied belts around them, and put cloth caps on their heads. He did everything just as the Lord had commanded.

¹⁴ Then Moses brought out the bull of the sin offering. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the bull’s head. ¹⁵ Then Moses killed the bull and collected its blood. He used his finger to put some of the blood on all the corners of the altar. In this way he made the altar ready for sacrifices. Then he poured out the blood at the base of the altar to make the altar ready for sacrifices to make the people pure. ¹⁶ Moses took all the fat from the inner parts of the bull. He took the fat part of the liver with the two kidneys and the fat on them. Then he burned them on the altar. ¹⁷ Moses took the bull’s skin, its meat, and its body waste outside the camp. He burned these things in a fire outside the camp. He did everything just as the Lord commanded him.

¹⁸ Then Moses brought the ram of the burnt offering. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the ram’s head. ¹⁹ Then Moses killed the ram. He sprinkled the blood around on the altar. ^20-21 He cut the ram into pieces. He washed the inner parts and legs with water. Then he burned the whole ram on the altar. He burned the head, the pieces, and the fat as a burnt offering. It was a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord. Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded.

²² Then Moses brought the other ram. This ram was used for appointing Aaron and his sons to become priests. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the ram’s head. ²³ Then Moses killed the ram. He put some of its blood on the tip of Aaron’s ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴ Then Moses brought Aaron’s sons close to the altar. He put some of the blood on the tip of their right ears, on the thumb of their right hands, and on the big toe of their right feet. Then he sprinkled the blood around on the altar. ²⁵ He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat on the inner parts, the fat covering of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh. ²⁶ A basket of unleavened bread is put before the Lord each day. Moses took one of those loaves of bread, one loaf of bread mixed with oil, and one unleavened wafer. He put these pieces of bread on the fat and on the right thigh of the ram. ²⁷ Then he put all of it in the hands of Aaron and his sons. Moses lifted these pieces to show he was offering them before the Lord. ²⁸ Then Moses took these things from the hands of Aaron and his sons and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering. So this was the offering for appointing Aaron and his sons as priests. It was a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord. ²⁹ Moses took the breast and lifted it to show he had presented it to the Lord. It was Moses’ share of the ram for appointing the priests. This was just as the Lord had commanded him.

³⁰ Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar. He sprinkled some on Aaron and on Aaron’s clothes. He sprinkled some on Aaron’s sons who were with Aaron and on their clothes. In this way Moses made Aaron, his clothes, his sons, and his sons’ clothes holy.

³¹ Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “I told you, ‘Aaron and his sons must eat these things.’ So take the basket of bread and meat from the ceremony for appointing the priests. Boil that meat at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Eat the meat and bread at that place. Do this as I told you. ³² If any of the meat or bread is left, burn it. ³³ The ceremony for appointing the priests will last for seven days. You must not leave the entrance of the Meeting Tent until that time is finished. ³⁴ Everything we did today was what the Lord commanded us to do in order to make you pure. ³⁵ You must stay at the entrance of the Meeting Tent day and night for seven days. If you don’t obey the Lord’s commands, you will die! The Lord gave me these commands.”

³⁶ So Aaron and his sons did everything that the Lord had commanded Moses.