Leviticus 9 – 10

The Inauguration of the Sacrifices

Leviticus 9

¹ On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. ² He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a whole burnt offering, both without blemish, and present them before the Lord. ³ Then speak to the Israelites and say, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering. Also take a calf and a lamb, both a year old and without blemish, for a burnt offering. ⁴ As a fellowship offering take one of the cattle ^[1] and a ram to be sacrificed before the Lord, and take a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the Lord will appear to you.’”

⁵ They took what Moses had commanded to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Then the whole congregation approached and stood before the Lord. ⁶ Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the Glory of the Lord may appear to you.” ⁷ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and present your sin offering and your burnt offering. Make atonement for yourself and for the people. Then present the offering for the people. Make atonement for them, just as the Lord has commanded.”

⁸ Aaron approached the altar and slaughtered the calf as a sin offering for himself. ⁹ Then Aaron’s sons presented the blood to him. After he had dipped his finger in the blood, he put it on the horns of the altar, and he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹⁰ Then he turned the fat, the kidneys, and the protruding lobe of the liver from the sin offering into smoke upon the altar, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹¹ But the meat and the hide were burned with fire outside the camp.

¹² After he slaughtered the burnt offering, Aaron’s sons brought the blood to him, and he splashed it against all sides of the altar. ¹³ They brought the whole burnt offering to him, piece by piece, including the head, and he turned them into smoke on the altar. ¹⁴ He washed the inner organs and the legs and turned them into smoke on top of the whole burnt offering that was on the altar.

¹⁵ Then he presented the offering for the people. He took the male goat for the sin offering for the people, slaughtered it, and made a sin offering with it as he had done with the first one for himself. ¹⁶ He then presented the whole burnt offering and carried out the offering according to the regulations. ¹⁷ Next he presented the grain offering. Taking a handful of it, he sent it up in smoke on the altar, in addition to the morning burnt offering. ¹⁸ When he had slaughtered the offering of one of the cattle and of the ram as the people’s sacrifice for fellowship offerings, Aaron’s sons brought the blood to him, which he splashed against all sides of the altar, ¹⁹ and the fat pieces from the offering of the ox and the ram—the broad tail, the layer of fat, the kidneys, and the protruding lobe of the liver. ²⁰ They laid the fat pieces on the breasts, and he turned the fat pieces into smoke on the altar.

²¹ Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before the Lord, just as Moses had commanded. ²² Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. After he had presented the sin offering, the whole burnt offering, and the fellowship offerings, he came down from the altar. ²³ Then Moses and Aaron entered the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the Glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ²⁴ Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat pieces on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell on their faces.

The Penalty for Nadab’s and Abihu’s Disobedience

Leviticus 10

¹ Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his incense pan, put coals on it, and laid incense on it, and they presented unauthorized fire in the Lord’s presence, which was not according to his command. ² Then fire came out from the Lord’s presence and consumed them. This is how they died in the Lord’s presence.

³ Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord said: ‘I must be treated as holy by those who are near me. I will be glorified in the sight of all the people.’” But Aaron remained silent.

⁴ Then Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel, Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, “Come forward and carry your cousins ^[2] outside the camp, away from the sanctuary.” ⁵ They came forward and carried them outside the camp by their tunics, just as Moses had ordered.

⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons: “Do not dishevel your hair and do not tear your garments, so that you will not die, and so that wrath does not come down on the whole congregation. But your relatives, ^[3] all the household of Israel, may weep because of the blazing fire that the Lord has ignited. ⁷ You must not go outside the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, or you will die, because the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” So they did as Moses had ordered.

⁸ The Lord spoke to Aaron: ⁹ “When you enter the Tent of Meeting, you and your sons shall not drink any wine or beer, ^[4] so that you will not die. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations. ¹⁰ You must distinguish between what is holy and what is common, what is unclean and what is clean, ¹¹ and you must teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”

¹² Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons: “Take the grain offerings that are left over from the offerings for the Lord made by fire, ^[5] and eat them as unleavened bread beside the altar, for they are most holy. ¹³ You shall eat them in a holy place, because they are your allotment and the allotment for your sons from offerings for the Lord made by fire, for that is what I have been commanded. ¹⁴ But you and your sons, and your daughters as well, may eat the breast that is waved and the thigh that is elevated in any clean place, for they have been assigned as something due to you and to your children as your allotment from the sacrifices of the fellowship offerings of the Israelites. ¹⁵ In addition to the offerings made by fire from the fat pieces, they are to bring the thigh that is elevated and the breast that is waved in order to wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. They shall be a permanent allotment for you and for your children with you, just as the Lord has commanded.”

¹⁶ When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering, he discovered that it had already been burned. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and said, ¹⁷ “Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the proper place in the sanctuary? It is certainly most holy since the Lord has given it to you for bearing the guilt of the community by making atonement for them in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁸ Since its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary, you definitely should have eaten it in the sanctuary, just as I commanded.”

¹⁹ Aaron replied to Moses, “Even though they presented their sin offering and whole burnt offering in the Lord’s presence today, such things have happened to me! Would the Lord have approved if I had eaten the sin offering today?”

²⁰ When Moses heard this, he approved.