Law of Atonement

16 Now the Lord spoke to Moses after ^(A)the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died. ² The Lord said to Moses:

“Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter ^(B)at ^[a]any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the ^[b]atoning cover which is on the ark, or he will die; for ^(C)I will appear in the cloud over the ^[c]atoning cover. ³ Aaron shall enter the Holy Place with this: with a ^[d]bull as a ^[e](D)sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on the ^(E)holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his ^[f]body, and he shall be wrapped about the waist with the linen sash and the linen turban wound around his forehead (these are holy garments). He shall ^(F)bathe his ^[g]body in water and put them on. ⁵ And he shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel ^(G)two male goats as a ^[h]sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering. ⁶ Then ^(H)Aaron shall offer the bull as the ^[i]sin offering, which is for himself, so that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. ⁷ He shall then take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ⁸ Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for ^[j]the ^[k]scapegoat. ⁹ Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a ^[l]sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot for ^[m]the ^[n]scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make ^(I)atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness ^[o]as the ^[p]scapegoat.

¹¹ “Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the ^[q]sin offering ^(J)which is for himself and make atonement for himself and ^(K)for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the ^[r]sin offering which is for himself. ¹² He shall take a ^(L)firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord and ^[s]two handfuls of finely ground ^(M)sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil. ¹³ He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud of incense may cover the ^(N)atoning cover that is on the ark of the testimony, ^(O)otherwise he will die. ¹⁴ Moreover, ^(P)he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it ^(Q)with his finger on the atoning cover on the east side; also in front of the atoning cover he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵ “Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering, ^(R)which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the atoning cover and in front of the atoning cover. ^16 (S)He shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their unlawful acts regarding all their sins; and he shall do so for the tent of meeting which remains with them in the midst of their impurities. ¹⁷ When he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, so that he may make atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. ¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it; he shall take some of the blood from the bull and some of the blood from the goat, and ^(T)put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. ^19 (U)With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it, and consecrate it from the impurities of the sons of Israel.

²⁰ “When he finishes atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. ²¹ Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and ^(V)confess over it all the wrongdoings of the sons of Israel and all their unlawful acts regarding all their sins; and he shall place them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands ready. ²² Then the goat shall carry on itself all their wrongdoings to an ^[t]isolated territory; he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off ^(W)the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. ²⁴ And ^(X)he shall bathe his ^[u]body with water in a holy place and put on ^(Y)his clothes, and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. ²⁶ The one who released the goat ^[v]as the ^[w]scapegoat ^(Z)shall wash his clothes and bathe his ^[x]body with water; then afterward he shall come into the camp. ²⁷ But the bull of the ^[y]sin offering and the goat of the ^[z]sin offering, ^(AA)whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. ²⁸ Then the ^(AB)one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; and afterward he shall come into the camp.

An Annual Atonement

²⁹ “This shall be a permanent statute for you: ^(AC)in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble ^[aa]yourselves and not ^(AD)do any work, whether the native, or the stranger who resides among you; ³⁰ for it is on this day that ^[ab]atonement shall be made for you to ^(AE)cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. ³¹ It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, so that you may ^(AF)humble ^[ac]yourselves; it is a permanent statute. ³² So the priest who is anointed and ^[ad]ordained to serve as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall put on ^(AG)the linen garments, the holy garments, ³³ and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for ^(AH)the priests and for all the people of the assembly. ³⁴ Now you shall have this as a ^(AI)permanent statute, to ^(AJ)make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.” And just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so he did.

The Day of Atonement

²⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ “On exactly ^(A)the tenth day of this seventh month is ^(B)the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble ^[a]yourselves and present an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ You shall not do any work on this very day, for it is a ^(C)Day of Atonement, ^(D)to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. ²⁹ If there is any ^[b]person who does not humble himself on this very day, ^(E)he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰ As for any person who does any work on this very day, that person I will eliminate from among his people. ³¹ You shall not do any work. It is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ³² It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble ^[c]yourselves; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”

The Sabbatical Year and Year of Jubilee

25 The Lord then spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I am going to give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. ³ For ^(A)six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce, ⁴ but during ^(B)the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ⁵ You shall not reap your harvest’s ^[a]aftergrowth, and you shall not gather your grapes of untrimmed vines; the land shall have a sabbatical year. ^6 (C)All of you shall have the Sabbath produce of the land as food; for yourself, your male and female slaves, and your hired worker and your foreign resident, those who live as strangers among you. ⁷ Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its produce to eat.

⁸ ‘You are also to count off seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years, that is, forty-nine years. ⁹ You shall then sound a ram’s horn ^[b]abroad on ^(D)the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. ¹⁰ So you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and ^(E)proclaim ^[c]a release throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, ^[d]and ^(F)each of you shall return to his own property, ^[e]and each of you shall return to his family. ¹¹ You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor harvest its aftergrowth, nor gather grapes from its untrimmed vines. ¹² For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its produce from the field.

¹³ ‘^(G)On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property. ¹⁴ Furthermore, if you make a sale to your friend, or buy from your friend’s hand, ^(H)you shall not ^[f]wrong one another. ¹⁵ Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your ^[g]friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops. ^16 (I)In proportion to ^[h]a greater number of years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to ^[i]fewer years you shall decrease its price, because it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. ¹⁷ So ^(J)you shall not ^[j]wrong one another, but you shall ^[k]fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

¹⁸ ‘You shall therefore ^[l]follow My statutes and keep My judgments so as to carry them out, so that ^(K)you may live securely on the land. ¹⁹ Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. ²⁰ But if you say, “^(L)What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow nor gather in our produce?” ²¹ then ^(M)I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the produce for three years. ²² When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat ^(N)old things from the produce, eating the old until the ninth year when its produce comes in.

The Law of Redemption

²³ ‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, because ^(O)the land is Mine; for ^(P)you are only strangers and residents with Me. ²⁴ So for every ^[m]piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.

²⁵ ‘^(Q)If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor that he sells part of his property, then his closest ^[n]redeemer is to come and buy back what his relative has sold. ²⁶ Or in case someone has no redeemer, but ^[o]recovers to find sufficient means for its redemption, ^27 (R)then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property. ²⁸ But if ^[p]he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaser until the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall ^[q]revert, so that ^(S)he may return to his property.

²⁹ ‘Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year after its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year. ³⁰ But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to its purchaser throughout his generations; it does not ^[r]revert in the jubilee. ³¹ The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall, shall be regarded ^[s]as open fields; they have redemption rights and ^[t]revert in the jubilee. ³² As for the ^(T)cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession. ³³ What, therefore, ^[u]belongs to the Levites may be redeemed, and a house sale ^[v]in the city of this possession ^[w]reverts in the jubilee, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. ^34 (U)But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their permanent possession.

Of Poor Countrymen

³⁵ ‘^(V)Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his ^[x]means among you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a resident, so that he may live with you. ^36 (W)Do not take ^[y]any kind of interest from him, but ^[z]fear your God, so that your countryman may live with you. ³⁷ You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food ^[aa]for profit. ^38 (X)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and ^(Y)to be your God.

³⁹ ‘Now ^(Z)if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. ⁴⁰ He shall be with you as a hired worker, ^(AA)as if he were a foreign resident; he shall serve with you up to the year of jubilee. ⁴¹ He shall then leave you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, so that he may return to the property of his forefathers. ⁴² For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. ^43 (AB)You shall not rule over him with ^[ab]severity, but are to revere your God. ⁴⁴ As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. ⁴⁵ You may also acquire them from the sons of the foreign residents who reside among you, and from their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession. ⁴⁶ You may also pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. ^(AC)But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with ^[ac]severity over one another.

Of Redeeming a Person Who Is Poor

⁴⁷ ‘Now if the ^[ad]means of a stranger or of a foreign resident with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes poor in relation to him and sells himself to a stranger who is residing with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family, ⁴⁸ then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, ⁴⁹ or his uncle, or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or ^[ae](AD)if he prospers, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ He then, with his purchaser, shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years calculated. It is like the days of a hired worker that he will be with him. ⁵¹ If there are still many years remaining, ^(AE)he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption; ⁵² but if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption. ⁵³ He shall be with him like a worker hired year by year; ^(AF)he shall not rule over him with ^[af]severity in your sight. ⁵⁴ Even if he is not redeemed by ^[ag]these means, ^(AG)he shall still leave in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. ⁵⁵ For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

⁷ ‘Then on ^(A)the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy assembly, and you shall humble yourselves; you shall not do any work. ⁸ You shall present a burnt offering to the Lord as a soothing aroma: one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs one year old, that you have ^(B)without defect; ⁹ and their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, ¹⁰ and a tenth for each of the seven lambs; ¹¹ one male goat as a sin offering, besides ^(C)the sin offering of atonement and ^(D)the continual burnt offering, and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.