The Day of Atonement

16 The Lord spoke to Moses after ^(A)the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, ² and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to ^(B)come 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 ^(C)I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. ³ But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: ^(D)with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and ^(E)a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on ^(F)the 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. ^(G)He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. ⁵ And he shall take from ^(H)the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶ “Aaron shall ^(I)offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall ^(J)make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷ Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for ^(K)Azazel.^{[a] 9} And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, ¹⁰ but the goat on which the lot fell for ^(L)Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to ^(M)Azazel.

¹¹ “Aaron shall present ^(N)the 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. ¹² And he shall take ^(O)a 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 ^13 (P)and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover ^(Q)the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. ¹⁴ And ^(R)he 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.

^15 (S)“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood ^(T)inside 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. ¹⁶ Thus he shall ^(U)make 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. ^17 (V)No 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. ¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar that is ^(W)before the Lord and ^(X)make 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. ¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ “And when he has made an end of ^(Y)atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. ²¹ 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 ^(Z)put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. ²² The goat shall ^(AA)bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and ^(AB)he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and ^(AC)shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. ²⁴ And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and ^(AD)offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ And ^(AE)the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. ²⁶ And he who lets the goat go to ^(AF)Azazel shall wash his clothes and ^(AG)bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. ^27 (AH)And 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. ²⁸ And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

²⁹ “And it shall be a statute to you forever that ^(AI)in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall ^(AJ)afflict yourselves^[b] and shall do no work, either ^(AK)the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. ³⁰ For on this day shall atonement be made for you ^(AL)to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. ^31 (AM)It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall ^(AN)afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. ^32 (AO)And the priest who is anointed and ^(AP)consecrated as priest in his father's place ^(AQ)shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. ³³ He shall make atonement for ^(AR)the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for ^(AS)the altar, and he shall make atonement for ^(AT)the priests and for ^(AU)all the people of the assembly. ³⁴ And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel ^(AV)once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron^[c] did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Earthly Holy Place

9 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and ^(A)an earthly place of holiness. ² For ^(B)a tent^[a] was prepared, the first section, in which were ^(C)the lampstand and ^(D)the table and ^(E)the bread of the Presence.^[b] It is called the Holy Place. ³ Behind ^(F)the second curtain was a second section^[c] called the Most Holy Place, ⁴ having the golden ^(G)altar of incense and ^(H)the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was ^(I)a golden urn holding the manna, and ^(J)Aaron's staff that budded, and ^(K)the tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above it were ^(L)the cherubim of glory overshadowing ^(M)the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶ These preparations having thus been made, ^(N)the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, ⁷ but into the second only ^(O)the high priest goes, and he but ^(P)once a year, and not without taking blood, ^(Q)which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. ⁸ By this the Holy Spirit indicates that ^(R)the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing ⁹ (which is symbolic for the present age).^[d] According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered ^(S)that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, ¹⁰ but deal only with ^(T)food and drink and ^(U)various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Redemption Through the Blood of Christ

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest ^(V)of the good things that have come,^[e] then through ^(W)the greater and more perfect tent (^(X)not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he ^(Y)entered ^(Z)once for all into the holy places, not by means of ^(AA)the blood of goats and calves but ^(AB)by means of his own blood, ^(AC)thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if ^(AD)the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with ^(AE)the ashes of a heifer, sanctify^[f] for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will ^(AF)the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit ^(AG)offered himself without blemish to God, ^(AH)purify our^[g] conscience ^(AI)from dead works ^(AJ)to serve the living God.

¹⁵ Therefore he is ^(AK)the mediator of a new covenant, so that ^(AL)those who are called may ^(AM)receive the promised eternal inheritance, ^(AN)since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.^{[h] 16} For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For ^(AO)a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated ^(AP)without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took ^(AQ)the blood of calves and goats, ^(AR)with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, ^(AS)“This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both ^(AT)the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and ^(AU)without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

²³ Thus it was necessary for ^(AV)the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places ^(AW)made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ^(AX)on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as ^(AY)the high priest enters ^(AZ)the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, ^(BA)he has appeared ^(BB)once for all ^(BC)at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as ^(BD)it is appointed for man to die once, and ^(BE)after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once ^(BF)to bear the sins of ^(BG)many, will appear ^(BH)a second time, ^(BI)not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly ^(BJ)waiting for him.