The Living Bible (39 page)

Leviticus
16

After Aaron’s two sons died before the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Warn your brother Aaron not to enter into the Holy Place behind the veil, where the Ark and the place of mercy are, just whenever he chooses. The penalty for intrusion is death. For I myself am present in the cloud above the place of mercy.

    
³
 “Here are the conditions for his entering there: He must bring a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
⁴
 He must bathe himself and put on the sacred linen coat, shorts, belt, and turban.
⁵
 The people of Israel shall then bring him two male goats for their sin offering, and a ram for their burnt offering.
⁶
 First he shall present to the Lord the young bull as a sin offering for himself, making atonement for himself and his family.
⁷
 Then he shall bring the two goats before the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle,
⁸
 and cast lots to determine which is the Lord’s and which is to be sent away.
*
⁹
 The goat allotted to the Lord shall then be sacrificed by Aaron as a sin offering.
¹⁰
 The other goat shall be kept alive and placed before the Lord. The rite of atonement shall be performed over it, and it shall then be sent out into the desert as a scapegoat.
*

    
¹¹
 “After Aaron has sacrificed the young bull as a sin offering for himself and his family,
¹²
 he shall take a censer full of live coals from the altar of the Lord, and fill his hands with sweet incense beaten into fine powder, and bring it inside the veil.
¹³
 There before the Lord he shall put the incense upon the coals, so that a cloud of incense will cover the mercy place above the Ark (containing the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments); thus he will not die.
¹⁴
 And he shall bring some of the blood of the young bull and sprinkle it with his finger upon the east side of the mercy place, and then seven times in front of it.

    
¹⁵
 “Then he must go out
*
and sacrifice the people’s sin offering goat, and bring its blood within the veil, and sprinkle it upon the place of mercy and in front of it, just as he did with the blood of the young bull.
¹⁶
 Thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because it is defiled by the sins of the people of Israel, and for the Tabernacle, located right among them and surrounded by their defilement.
¹⁷
 Not another soul shall be inside the Tabernacle when Aaron enters to make atonement in the Holy Place—not until after he comes out again and has made atonement for himself and his household and for all the people of Israel.
¹⁸
 Then he shall go out to the altar before the Lord and make atonement for it. He must smear the blood of the young bull and the goat on the horns of the altar,
¹⁹
 and sprinkle blood upon the altar seven times with his finger, thus cleansing it from the sinfulness of Israel and making it holy.
*

    
²⁰
 “When he has completed the rite of atonement for the Holy Place, the entire Tabernacle, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat and,
²¹
 laying both hands upon its head, confess over it all the sins of the people of Israel. He shall lay all their sins upon the head of the goat and send it into the desert, led by a man appointed for the task.
²²
 So the goat shall carry all the sins of the people into a land where no one lives,
*
and the man shall let it loose in the wilderness.

    
²³
 “Then Aaron shall go into the Tabernacle again and take off the linen garments he wore when he went behind the veil, and leave them there in the Tabernacle.
²⁴
 Then he shall bathe in a sacred place, put on his clothes again, and go out and sacrifice his own burnt offering for the people, making atonement for himself and for them.
²⁵
 He shall also burn upon the altar the fat for the sin offering.

    
²⁶
 “The man who took the goat out into the desert
*
shall afterwards wash his clothes and bathe himself and then come back into the camp.
²⁷
 And the young bull and the goat used for the sin offering (their blood was taken into the Holy Place by Aaron, to make atonement) shall be carried outside the camp and burned, including the hides and internal organs.
²⁸
 Afterwards, the person doing the burning shall wash his clothes and bathe himself and then return to camp.

    
^29-30
 “This is a permanent law: You must do no work on the twenty-fifth day of September,
*
but must spend the day in self-examination and humility. This applies whether you are born in the land or are a foreigner living among the people of Israel; for this is the day commemorating the atonement, cleansing you in the Lord’s eyes from all of your sins.
³¹
 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall spend the day in quiet humility;
*
this is a permanent law.
³²
 This ceremony, in later generations, shall be performed by the anointed High Priest, consecrated in place of his ancestor Aaron; he shall be the one to put on the holy linen garments,
³³
 and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, the Tabernacle, the altar, the priests, and the people.
³⁴
 This shall be an everlasting law for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel once each year, because of their sins.”

    
And Aaron followed all these instructions that the Lord gave to Moses.

Leviticus
17

The Lord gave to Moses these additional instructions for Aaron and the priests and for all the people of Israel:

    
^3-4
 “Any Israelite who sacrifices
*
an ox, lamb, or goat anywhere except at the Tabernacle is guilty of murder and shall be excommunicated from his nation.
⁵
 The purpose of this law is to stop the people of Israel from sacrificing in the open fields, and to cause them to bring their sacrifices to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and to burn the fat as a savor the Lord will appreciate and enjoy—
⁶
 for in this way the priest will be able to sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and to burn the fat as a savor the Lord will appreciate and enjoy—
⁷
 instead of the people’s sacrificing to evil spirits
*
out in the fields. This shall be a permanent law for you, from generation to generation.
^8-9
 I repeat: Anyone, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you who offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice anywhere other than at the entrance of the Tabernacle, where it will be sacrificed to the Lord, shall be excommunicated.

    
¹⁰
 “And I will turn my face against anyone, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you, who eats blood in any form. I will excommunicate him from his people.
¹¹
 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given you the blood to sprinkle upon the altar as an atonement for your souls; it is the blood that makes atonement because it is the life.
*
¹²
 That is the reasoning behind my decree to the people of Israel, that neither they, nor any foreigner living among them, may eat blood.
¹³
 Anyone, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you, who goes hunting and kills an animal or bird of a kind permitted for food, must pour out the blood and cover it with dust,
¹⁴
 for the blood is the life. That is why I told the people of Israel never to eat it, for the life of every bird and animal
*
is its blood. Therefore, anyone who eats blood must be excommunicated.

    
¹⁵
 “And anyone—native born or foreigner—who eats the dead body of an animal that dies a natural death, or is killed by wild animals, must wash his clothes and bathe himself and be defiled until evening; after that he shall be declared cleansed.
¹⁶
 But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe, he shall suffer the consequence.”

Leviticus
18

The Lord then told Moses to tell the people of Israel,

    
“I am Jehovah your God,
³
 so don’t act like the heathen—like the people of Egypt where you lived so long, or the people of Canaan where I am going to take you.
^4-5
 You must obey only my laws, and you must carry them out in detail, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey them, you shall live.
*
I am the Lord.

    
⁶
 “None of you shall marry
*
a near relative, for I am the Lord.
⁷
 Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother,
⁸
 nor any other of your father’s wives.
⁹
 Do not have intercourse with your sister or half sister, whether the daughter of your father or your mother, whether brought up in the same household or elsewhere.

    
¹⁰
 “You shall not have intercourse with your granddaughter—the daughter of either your son or your daughter—for she is a close relative.
*
¹¹
 You may not have intercourse with a half sister—your father’s wife’s daughter;
¹²
 nor your aunt—your father’s sister—because she is so closely related to your father;
¹³
 nor your aunt—your mother’s sister—because she is a close relative of your mother;
¹⁴
 nor your aunt—the wife of your father’s brother.
*

    
¹⁵
 “You may not marry your daughter-in-law—your son’s wife;
¹⁶
 nor your brother’s wife, for she is your brother’s.
*
¹⁷
 You may not marry both a woman and her daughter or granddaughter, for they are near relatives, and to do so is horrible wickedness.
¹⁸
 You shall not marry two sisters, for they will be rivals. However, if your wife dies, then it is all right to marry her sister.

    
¹⁹
 “There must be no sexual relationship with a woman who is menstruating;
²⁰
 nor with anyone else’s wife, to defile yourself with her.

    
²¹
 “You shall not give any of your children to Molech, burning them upon his altar; never profane the name of your God, for I am Jehovah.

    
²²
 “Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin.
²³
 A man shall have no sexual intercourse with any female animal, thus defiling himself; and a woman must never give herself to a male animal, to mate with it; this is a terrible perversion.

    
²⁴
 “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for these are the things the heathen do; and because they do them, I am going to cast them out from the land into which you are going.
²⁵
 That entire country is defiled with this kind of activity; that is why I am punishing the people living there, and will throw them out of the land.
*
²⁶
 You must strictly obey all of my laws and ordinances, and you must not do any of these abominable things; these laws apply both to you who are born in the nation of Israel and to foreigners living among you.

    
²⁷
 “Yes, all these abominations have been done continually by the people of the land where I am taking you, and the land is defiled.
²⁸
 Do not do these things or I will throw you out of the land, just as I will throw out
*
the nations that live there now.
^29-30
 Whoever does any of these terrible deeds shall be excommunicated from this nation. So be very sure to obey my laws, and do not practice any of these horrible customs. Do not defile yourselves with the evil deeds of those living in the land where you are going. For I am Jehovah your God.”