Exodus 29
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 29
Consecration of the Priests. 1 “You shall observe this rite to consecrate them as my priests: Take a bull and two rams without defect, 2 and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers with oil spread on them. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. 3 Put them in one basket and bring them and offer them together with the young bull and the two rams.
4 “Then have Aaron and his sons approach the entrance to the meeting tent and wash them with water. 5 Take the garments and clothe Aaron in the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate. Wrap the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him. 6 Place the turban on his head and put the holy crown over the turban. 7 Then pour the anointing oil on his head and anoint him.
8 “As for his sons, make them draw near and clothe them in their tunics, 9 wrap their sashes around them, and tie their caps on them. They will participate in the priesthood by an eternal statute. This is how you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.
10 The Offering of the Sacrifices.“Then have the young bull brought in front of the meeting tent. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. 11 Kill the bull before the Lord, at the entrance to the meeting tent. 12 Take part of its blood and with a finger put it on the horns of the altar. The rest of the blood shall be poured out at the base of the altar.
13 “Take the fat that surrounds its entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat that surrounds them, and burn them as a sacrifice on the altar. 14 But the meat of the bull, its skin and its dung, you must burn outside the camp. It is a sin offering.
15 “Then take one of the rams. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. 16 Kill the ram and gather its blood and pour it around the altar. 17 Cut the ram into pieces. Wash the entrails and the legs and put them with the pieces and the head. 18 Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a pleasing fragrance[a] to the Lord, a burnt offering to the Lord.
19 “Take the second ram. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head, 20 and you shall kill it. Take part of its blood and place it on the right ear lobe of Aaron and the right ear lobes of his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then pour out the blood around the altar. 21 Take some of the blood on the altar and some anointing oil and sprinkle Aaron and his vestments, the sons of Aaron and their vestments. Thus, he shall be consecrated with his vestments together with his sons and their vestments.
22 “Take the fat of the ram: the tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh, for it is a ram of consecration. 23 Also take a round loaf of bread, a cake of bread mixed with oil, and an unleavened wafer from the basket of unleavened breads placed before the altar. 24 Put all of it into the hands of Aaron and the hands of his sons. They shall wave it as an offering before the Lord.[b] 25 Take everything from their hands and burn it on the altar. It shall be a pleasant fragrance to the Lord, a burnt offering to the Lord.
26 “Take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration and wave it as an offering before the Lord. It shall be your portion. 27 Consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the offering and wave it. It is offered from the ram of the consecration, and it is for Aaron and his sons. 28 It is to belong to Aaron and his sons as the portion reserved to them. This shall be an eternal statute for the children of Israel. It will be the priests’ portion to be offered by the children of Israel from their peace offerings, an offering unto the Lord.
29 The Transmission of the Sacred Vestments.“The sacred vestments of Aaron shall belong to his sons after him. They shall be anointed and consecrated in them. 30 Those descendants of Aaron who succeed him in the priesthood and who enter into the meeting tent to minister in the sanctuary shall wear these vestments for seven days.
31 The Sacred Food of the Priests.“Take the ram of consecration and cook its meat in a holy place. 32 At the entrance to the meeting tent, Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram and the bread of the basket. 33 They shall eat those things with which atonement was obtained. No outsider can eat them, for they are holy things. 34 If any of the meat of consecration or the bread is left over in the morning, you shall burn whatever is left over with fire; it shall not be eaten, for it is holy. 35 Do to Aaron and to his sons what I have commanded you to do. For seven days you shall consecrate them.
36 The Consecrated Altar and the Daily Sacrifice.“For each of seven days you shall offer a young bull as a sin offering for atonement. You shall also make a sin offering for the atonement for the altar, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. 37 For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. It shall thus become a most holy thing, and whatever touches the altar will become holy.[c]
38 “Now this is what you shall offer up on the altar every day and forever: two lambs, a year old. 39 You shall offer one of these lambs in the morning and the second lamb in the evening. 40 With the first lamb you shall offer a tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of olive oil and a fourth of a hin of wine as a libation. 41 Offer the second lamb in the evening with the same offering and libation as in the morning. It will be a pleasant fragrance to the Lord, a burnt offering to the Lord.
42 “It shall be a perpetual burnt offering throughout all your generations at the entrance to the meeting tent, in the presence of the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you.
43 “I will meet with the children of Israel in this place that will be consecrated to my glory. 44 I will consecrate the meeting tent and the altar. I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to be my priests. 45 I will live in the midst of the children of Israel and I will be their God. 46 They shall know that I am the Lord, their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I, the Lord, their God, might live in their midst.
Footnotes
- Exodus 29:18 A pleasing fragrance: an anthropomorphism expressing the idea that the Lord accepts the sacrifice (see Gen 8:21; Lev 1:9; Num 28:2). Burnt offering: a sacrifice in which the entire animal is burned.
- Exodus 29:24 See Lev 7:30. The object sacrificed was several times passed over the altar and then drawn back, in order to express the idea of an offering being made to God.
- Exodus 29:37 Just as those who ministered had to be cleansed and make atonement before offering worship, so too, the altar must be sanctified so that anything that touched it was holy.
