Leviticus 9-11

New American Standard Bible 1995

Aaron Offers Sacrifices

9 Now it came about ^(A)on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel; ² and he said to Aaron, “^(B)Take for yourself a calf, a bull, for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without defect, and offer them before the Lord. ³ Then to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both one year old, without defect, for a burnt offering, ⁴ and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with oil; for today ^(C)the Lord will appear to you.’” ⁵ So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the whole congregation came near and stood before the Lord. ⁶ Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded you to do, that ^(D)the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” ⁷ Moses then said to Aaron, “Come near to the altar and ^[a](E)offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people; then make the offering ^[b]for the people, that you may make atonement for them, just as the Lord has commanded.”

^8 (F)So Aaron came near to the altar and slaughtered the calf of the sin offering which was for himself. ^9 (G)Aaron’s sons presented the blood to him; and he dipped his finger in the blood and ^(H)put some on the horns of the altar, and poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹⁰ The fat and the kidneys and the ^[c]lobe of the liver of the sin offering, he then offered up in smoke on the altar just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^11 (I)The flesh and the skin, however, he burned with fire outside the camp.

¹² Then he slaughtered the burnt offering; and Aaron’s sons handed the blood to him and he sprinkled it around on the altar. ¹³ They handed the burnt offering to him in ^[d]pieces, with the head, and he offered them up in smoke on the altar. ¹⁴ He also washed the entrails and the legs, and offered them up in smoke with the burnt offering on the altar.

¹⁵ Then he presented the people’s offering, and took the ^(J)goat of the sin offering which was for the people, and slaughtered it and offered it for sin, like the first. ¹⁶ He also presented the burnt offering, and ^[e]offered it according to ^(K)the ordinance. ¹⁷ Next he presented ^(L)the grain offering, and filled his ^[f]hand with some of it and offered it up in smoke on the altar, ^(M)besides the burnt offering of the morning.

¹⁸ Then ^(N)he slaughtered the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings which was for the people; and Aaron’s sons handed the blood to him and he sprinkled it around on the altar. ¹⁹ As for the portions of fat from the ox and from the ram, the fat tail, and the fat ^(O)covering, and the kidneys and the ^[g]lobe of the liver, ²⁰ they now placed the portions of fat on the breasts; and he offered ^[h]them up in smoke on the altar. ²¹ But ^(P)the breasts and the right thigh Aaron ^[i]presented as a wave offering before the Lord, just as Moses had commanded.

²² Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and ^(Q)blessed them, and he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. ²³ Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, ^(R)the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ^24 (S)Then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

10 Now ^(T)Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective ^(U)firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. ^2 (V)And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

⁴ Moses called also to ^(Z)Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come forward, carry your ^[k]relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.” ⁵ So they came forward and carried them still in their ^(AA)tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said. ⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “^(AB)Do not ^[l]uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not ^(AC)become wrathful against all the congregation. But your ^[m]kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the Lord has ^[n]brought about. ⁷ You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for ^(AD)the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ The Lord then spoke to Aaron, saying, ⁹ “^(AE)Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations— ¹⁰ and ^(AF)so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and ^(AG)so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”

¹² Then Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his surviving sons, ^(AH)Eleazar and Ithamar, “^(AI)Take the grain offering that is left over from the Lord’s offerings by fire and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy. ¹³ You shall eat it, moreover, in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due out of the Lord’s offerings by fire; for thus I have been commanded. ^14 (AJ)The breast of the wave offering, however, and the thigh of the offering you may eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you; for they have been given as your due and your sons’ due out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the sons of Israel. ^15 (AK)The thigh offered by lifting up and the breast offered by waving they shall bring along with the offerings by fire of the portions of fat, to present as a wave offering before the Lord; so it shall be a thing perpetually due you and your sons with you, just as the Lord has commanded.”

¹⁶ But Moses searched carefully for the ^(AL)goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned up! So he was angry with Aaron’s surviving sons Eleazar and Ithamar, saying, ¹⁷ “Why ^(AM)did you not eat the sin offering at the holy place? For it is most holy, and ^[o]He gave it to you to bear away ^(AN)the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord. ¹⁸ Behold, ^(AO)since its blood had not been brought inside, into the sanctuary, you should certainly have ^(AP)eaten it in the sanctuary, just as I commanded.” ¹⁹ But Aaron spoke to Moses, “Behold, this very day they ^(AQ)presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord. When things like these happened to me, if I had eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰ When Moses heard that, it seemed good in his sight.

Laws about Animals for Food

11 The Lord spoke again to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘^(AR)These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth. ³ Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat. ⁴ Nevertheless, ^(AS)you are not to eat of these, among those which chew the cud, or among those which divide the hoof: the camel, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you. ⁵ Likewise, the ^[p]shaphan, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you; ⁶ the ^[q]rabbit also, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you; ⁷ and the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you. ⁸ You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

⁹ ‘^(AT)These you may eat, whatever is in the water: all that have fins and scales, those in the water, in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. ^10 (AU)But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you, ¹¹ and they shall be ^[r]abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest. ¹² Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is ^[s]abhorrent to you.

Avoid the Unclean

¹³ ‘These, moreover, ^(AV)you shall detest among the birds; they are ^[t]abhorrent, not to be eaten: the ^[u]eagle and the vulture and the ^[v]buzzard, ¹⁴ and the kite and the falcon in its kind, ¹⁵ every raven in its kind, ¹⁶ and the ostrich and the owl and the sea gull and the hawk in its kind, ¹⁷ and the little owl and the cormorant and the ^[w]great owl, ¹⁸ and the white owl and the ^[x]pelican and the carrion vulture, ¹⁹ and the stork, the heron in its kinds, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

²⁰ ‘All the ^[y]winged insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you. ²¹ Yet these you may eat among all the ^[z]winged insects which walk on all fours: those which have above their feet jointed legs with which to jump on the earth. ²² These of them you may eat: the locust in its kinds, and the devastating locust in its kinds, and the cricket in its kinds, and the grasshopper in its kinds. ²³ But all other ^[aa]winged insects which are four-footed are detestable to you.

²⁴ ‘By these, moreover, you will be made unclean: whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening, ²⁵ and ^(AW)whoever picks up any of their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. ²⁶ Concerning all the animals which divide the hoof but do not make a split hoof, or which do not chew cud, they are unclean to you: whoever touches them becomes unclean. ²⁷ Also whatever walks on its paws, among all the creatures that walk on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening, ²⁸ and the one who picks up their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; they are unclean to you.

²⁹ ‘Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, and the mouse, and the ^[ab]great lizard in its kinds, ³⁰ and the gecko, and the ^[ac]crocodile, and the lizard, and the ^[ad]sand reptile, and the chameleon. ³¹ These are to you the unclean among all the swarming things; whoever touches them when they are dead becomes unclean until evening. ³² Also anything on which one of them may fall when they are dead becomes unclean, including any wooden article, or clothing, or a skin, or a sack—any article ^[ae]of which use is made—^(AX)it shall be put in the water and be unclean until evening, then it becomes clean. ³³ As for any ^(AY)earthenware vessel into which one of them may fall, whatever is in it becomes unclean and you shall break ^[af]the vessel. ³⁴ Any of the ^[ag]food which may be eaten, on which water comes, shall become unclean, and any ^[ah]liquid which may be drunk in every vessel shall become unclean. ³⁵ Everything, moreover, on which part of their carcass may fall becomes unclean; an oven or a ^[ai]stove shall be smashed; they are unclean and shall continue as unclean to you. ³⁶ Nevertheless a spring or a cistern ^[aj]collecting water shall be clean, though the one who touches their carcass shall be unclean. ³⁷ If a part of their carcass falls on any seed for sowing which is to be sown, it is clean. ³⁸ Though if water is put on the seed and a part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

³⁹ ‘Also if one of the animals dies which you have for food, the one who touches its carcass becomes unclean until evening. ^40 (AZ)He too, who eats some of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening, and the one who picks up its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

⁴¹ ‘^(BA)Now every swarming thing that swarms on the earth is detestable, not to be eaten. ⁴² Whatever crawls on its belly, and whatever walks on all fours, whatever has many feet, in respect to every swarming thing that swarms on the earth, you shall not eat them, for they are detestable. ^43 (BB)Do not render ^[ak]yourselves detestable through any of the swarming things that swarm; and you shall not make yourselves unclean with them so that you become unclean. ⁴⁴ For ^(BC)I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and ^(BD)be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. ^45 (BE)For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus ^(BF)you shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

⁴⁶ This is the law regarding the animal and the bird, and every living thing that moves in the waters and everything that swarms on the earth, ^47 (BG)to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten.