The Rites of Ordination

8 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Take Aaron and his sons with him, the vestments, the anointing oil, the bull for the purification offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread;^{(A) 3} and assemble the whole congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” ⁴ And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him. When the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting, ⁵ Moses said to the congregation, “This is what the Lord has commanded to be done.”

⁶ Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water.^{(B) 7} He put the tunic on him, fastened the sash around him, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him. He then put the decorated band of the ephod around him, tying the ephod to him with it. ⁸ He placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim.^{(C) 9} And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden ornament, the holy diadem, as the Lord had commanded Moses.^(D)

¹⁰ Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it and consecrated them.^{(E) 11} He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its base, to consecrate them. ¹² He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him, to consecrate him.^{(F) 13} And Moses brought forward Aaron’s sons and clothed them with tunics and fastened sashes around them and tied headdresses on them, as the Lord had commanded Moses.^(G)

¹⁴ He led forward the bull of purification offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bull for the purification offering,^{(H) 15} and it was slaughtered. Moses took the blood and with his finger put some on each of the horns of the altar, purifying the altar; then he poured out the blood at the base of the altar. Thus he consecrated it, to make atonement for it.^{(I) 16} Moses took all the fat that was around the entrails and the appendage of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat and turned them into smoke on the altar.^{(J) 17} But the bull itself, its skin and flesh and its dung, he burned with fire outside the camp, as the Lord had commanded Moses.^(K)

¹⁸ Then he brought forward the ram of burnt offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram,^{(L) 19} and it was slaughtered. Moses dashed the blood against all sides of the altar. ²⁰ The ram was cut into its parts, and Moses turned into smoke the head and the parts and the suet. ²¹ And after the entrails and the legs were washed with water, Moses turned into smoke the rest of the ram on the altar; it was a burnt offering for a pleasing odor, an offering by fire^[a] to the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.^(M)

²² Then he brought forward the second ram, the ram of ordination. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram,^{(N) 23} and it was slaughtered. Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴ After Aaron’s sons were brought forward, Moses put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and Moses dashed the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar. ²⁵ He took the fat—the fatty tail, all the fat that was around the entrails, the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat—and the right thigh.^{(O) 26} From the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one cake of unleavened bread, one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer and placed them on the fat and on the right thigh.^{(P) 27} He placed all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons and raised them as an elevation offering before the Lord. ²⁸ Then Moses took them from their hands and turned them into smoke on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering for a pleasing odor, an offering by fire^[b] to the Lord.^{(Q) 29} Moses took the breast and raised it as an elevation offering before the Lord; it was Moses’s portion of the ram of ordination, as the Lord had commanded Moses.^(R)

³⁰ Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his vestments and also on his sons and their vestments. Thus he consecrated Aaron and his vestments and also his sons and their vestments.^(S)

³¹ And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I was commanded, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it,’^{(T) 32} and what remains of the flesh and the bread you shall burn with fire.^{(U) 33} You shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the day when your period of ordination is completed. For it will take seven days to ordain you;^{(V) 34} as has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you.^{(W) 35} You shall remain at the entrance of the tent of meeting day and night for seven days, keeping the Lord’s charge so that you do not die, for so have I been commanded.” ³⁶ Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord had commanded through Moses.

Aaron’s Priesthood Inaugurated

9 On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. ² He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf for a purification offering and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord.^{(X) 3} And say to the Israelites, ‘Take a male goat for a purification offering; a calf and a lamb, yearlings without blemish, for a burnt offering;^{(Y) 4} and an ox and a ram for an offering of well-being to sacrifice before the Lord; and a grain offering mixed with oil. For today the Lord will appear to you.’ ” ⁵ They brought what Moses commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the whole congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. ⁶ And Moses said, “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.”^{(Z) 7} Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and sacrifice your purification offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and sacrifice the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”^(AA)

⁸ Aaron drew near to the altar and slaughtered the calf of the purification offering, which was for himself.^{(AB) 9} The sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar.^{(AC) 10} But the fat, the kidneys, and the appendage of the liver from the purification offering he turned into smoke on the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses, ¹¹ and the flesh and the skin he burned with fire outside the camp.^(AD)

¹² Then he slaughtered the burnt offering. Aaron’s sons brought him the blood, and he dashed it against all sides of the altar. ¹³ And they brought him the burnt offering piece by piece and the head, which he turned into smoke on the altar. ¹⁴ He washed the entrails and the legs and, with the burnt offering, turned them into smoke on the altar.

¹⁵ Next he presented the people’s offering. He took the goat of the purification offering that was for the people and slaughtered it and presented it as a purification offering like the first one.^{(AE) 16} He presented the burnt offering and sacrificed it according to regulation.^{(AF) 17} He presented the grain offering, and, taking a handful of it, he turned it into smoke on the altar, in addition to the burnt offering of the morning.^(AG)

¹⁸ He slaughtered the ox and the ram as a sacrifice of well-being for the people. Aaron’s sons brought him the blood, which he dashed against all sides of the altar,^{(AH) 19} and the fat of the ox and of the ram: the fatty tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat on them,^[c] and the appendage of the liver. ²⁰ They first laid the fat on the breasts, and the fat was turned into smoke on the altar, ²¹ and the breasts and the right thigh Aaron raised as an elevation offering before the Lord, as Moses had commanded.^(AI)

²² Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down after sacrificing the purification offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being. ²³ Moses and Aaron entered the tent of meeting and then came out and blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.^{(AJ) 24} Fire came out from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.^(AK)

Nadab and Abihu

10 Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and they offered unholy fire before the Lord, such as he had not commanded them.^{(AL) 2} And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.^{(AM) 3} Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when he said,

And Aaron was silent.^(AN)

⁴ Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come forward and carry your kinsmen away from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.”^{(AO) 5} They came forward and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had ordered. ⁶ And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not dishevel your hair and do not tear your vestments, or you will die, and wrath will strike all the congregation; but your kindred, the whole house of Israel, may mourn the burning that the Lord has sent.^{(AP) 7} You shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is on you.” And they did as Moses had ordered.^(AQ)

⁸ And the Lord spoke to Aaron, ⁹ “Drink no wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons, when you enter the tent of meeting, that you may not die; it is a statute forever throughout your generations.^{(AR) 10} You are to distinguish between the holy and the common and between the unclean and the clean,^{(AS) 11} and you are to teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”^(AT)

¹² Moses spoke to Aaron and to his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that is left from the Lord’s offerings by fire,^[d] and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy;^{(AU) 13} you shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, from the offerings by fire^[e] to the Lord, for so I am commanded. ¹⁴ But the breast that is elevated and the thigh that is raised, you and your sons and daughters as well may eat in any clean place, for they have been assigned to you and your children from the sacrifices of well-being of the Israelites.^{(AV) 15} The thigh that is raised and the breast that is elevated they shall bring, together with the offerings by fire^[f] of the fat, to raise for an elevation offering before the Lord; they are to be your due and that of your children forever, as the Lord has commanded.”^(AW)

¹⁶ Then Moses made inquiry about the goat of the purification offering, and it had already been burned! He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and said, ¹⁷ “Why did you not eat the purification offering in the sacred area? For it is most holy, and God^[g] has given it to you that you may remove the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord.^{(AX) 18} Its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.” ¹⁹ And Aaron spoke to Moses, “See, today they offered their purification offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and yet such things as these have befallen me! If I had eaten the purification offering today, would it have been agreeable to the Lord?”^{(AY) 20} And when Moses heard that, he agreed.