Leviticus 6-7

Easy-to-Read Version

Guilt Offerings for Other Sins

6 The Lord told Moses these rules for the people: ² “You are guilty of sin against the Lord when you do any of these things: when you lie about what happened to something you were taking care of for someone else; when you lie about a deposit^[a] you received; when you steal something; when you cheat someone; ³ when you find something that was lost and lie about having it; when you fail to keep a promise; or when you do any other bad things like these. ⁴ If you do any of these things, you are guilty of doing wrong. You must give back whatever you stole or whatever you took by cheating. You must return whatever you took that another person asked you to hold, or whatever you found and lied about having, ⁵ or whatever you made a false promise about. You must pay the full price and then add one-fifth of that amount as a fine and give it all to the true owner. ⁶ You must also bring a ram to the Lord that has nothing wrong with it (or the same amount in silver) to the priest. ⁷ Then the priest will go to the Lord to make you pure, and God will forgive you for whichever of these things you did that made you guilty.”

Burnt Offerings

⁸ The Lord said to Moses, ⁹ “Give this command to Aaron and his sons: This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering must stay on the hearth^[b] of the altar all night until morning. The altar’s fire must be kept burning. ¹⁰ The priest must change clothes and put on the special linen underwear and linen robe. Then he must gather up the ashes from the fire and burnt offerings and set them down by the altar. ¹¹ Then he must take off the special clothes and put on the other clothes and carry the ashes outside the camp to a special place that is pure. ¹² The fire that was started on the altar must never be allowed to stop burning. Every morning the priests must put wood on the altar. They must arrange the burnt offerings on the wood, and they must burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. ¹³ That fire must always be kept burning on the altar. It must never be allowed to stop burning.

Grain Offerings

¹⁴ “This is the law for the grain offering: The sons of Aaron will bring it to the front of the altar as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ There must be some oil and frankincense on the grain offering. The priest will take a handful of fine flour from the grain offering and burn it on the altar as a sweet-smelling memorial offering to the Lord.

¹⁶ “Aaron and his sons will use the rest of that grain to make bread without yeast. This must be eaten in a holy place—in the courtyard around the Meeting Tent. ¹⁷ I have given this part of the grain offering as the priests’ share of the gifts offered to me. Like the sin offering and the guilt offering, it is most holy. It must not be baked with yeast. ¹⁸ Any male descendant of Aaron may eat from these gifts to the Lord. This is their share forever throughout your generations. Whatever touches these offerings will be made holy.^[c]”

The Priests’ Grain Offering

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁰ “This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must bring to the Lord when Aaron is anointed to be the high priest. They must bring 8 cups^[d] of fine flour for a grain offering. This will be offered at the times of the daily offering—half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. ²¹ The fine flour must be mixed with oil and baked on a pan. After it is cooked, you must bring it in, break it into pieces, and offer it as a sweet-smelling gift to Lord.

²² “In the future, when Aaron’s descendants take their place as the anointed priests,^[e] they will continue to make this grain offering to the Lord. This rule will continue forever. The grain offering must be completely burned for the Lord. ²³ Every grain offering that a priest gives must be completely burned. It must not be eaten.”

The Law of the Sin Offering

²⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁵ “Tell Aaron and his sons: This is the law of the sin offering. The sin offering must be killed in the place where the burnt offering is killed before the Lord. It is most holy. ²⁶ The priest who offers the sin offering must eat it. But he must eat it in a holy place, in the courtyard around the Meeting Tent. ²⁷ Touching the meat of the sin offering makes a person or a thing holy.

“If any of the sprinkled blood falls on a person’s clothes, you must wash the clothes in a holy place. ²⁸ If the sin offering was boiled in a clay pot, the pot must be broken. If the sin offering was boiled in a bronze pot, the pot must be washed and rinsed in water.

²⁹ “Any male in a priest’s family may eat the sin offering. It is very holy. ³⁰ But if the blood of the sin offering was taken into the Meeting Tent and used in the Holy Place to make people pure, that sin offering must not be eaten. It must be completely burned in the fire.

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^[f] 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^[g] 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.