The Living Bible (36 page)

Leviticus
8

The Lord said to Moses, “Now bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tabernacle, together with their garments, the anointing oil, the young bull for the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of bread made without yeast; and summon all Israel to a meeting there.”

    
⁴
 So all the people assembled,
⁵
 and Moses said to them, “What I am now going to do has been commanded by Jehovah.”

    
⁶
 Then he took Aaron and his sons and washed them with water,
⁷
 and he clothed Aaron with the special coat, sash, robe, and the ephod-jacket with its beautifully woven belt.
⁸
 Then he put on him the chestpiece and deposited the Urim and the Thummim
*
inside its pouch;
⁹
 and placed on Aaron’s head the turban with the sacred gold plate at its front—the holy crown—as the Lord had commanded Moses.

    
¹⁰
 Then Moses took the anointing oil and sprinkled it upon the Tabernacle itself and on each item in it, sanctifying them.
¹¹
 When he came to the altar he sprinkled it seven times, and also sprinkled the utensils of the altar and the washbasin and its pedestal, to sanctify them.
¹²
 Then he poured the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, thus setting him apart for his work.
¹³
 Next Moses placed the robes on Aaron’s sons, with the belts and caps, as the Lord had commanded him.

    
¹⁴
 Then he took the young bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon its head
^15-16
 as Moses killed it. He smeared some of the blood with his finger upon the four horns of the altar and upon the altar itself, to sanctify it, and poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar; thus he sanctified the altar, making atonement for it. He took all the fat covering the entrails, the fatty mass above the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and burned them all on the altar.
¹⁷
 The carcass of the young bull, with its hide and dung, was burned outside the camp, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

    
¹⁸
 Then he presented to the Lord the ram for the burnt offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon its head,
¹⁹
 and Moses killed it and sprinkled the blood back and forth upon the altar.
²⁰
 Next he quartered the ram and burned the pieces, the head and the fat.
²¹
 He then washed the insides and the legs with water, and burned them upon the altar, so that the entire ram was consumed before the Lord; it was a burnt offering that pleased the Lord very much, for Jehovah’s directions to Moses were followed in every detail.

    
²²
 Then Moses presented the other ram, the ram of consecration; Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon its head.
²³
 Moses killed it and took some of its blood and smeared it upon the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and the thumb of his right hand and upon the big toe of his right foot.
²⁴
 Next he smeared some of the blood upon Aaron’s sons—upon the lobes of their right ears, upon their right thumbs, and upon the big toes of their right feet. The rest of the blood he sprinkled back and forth upon the altar.
*

    
²⁵
 Then he took the fat, the tail, the fat upon the inner organs, the gall bladder, the two kidneys with their fat, and the right shoulder,
²⁶
 and placed on top of these one unleavened wafer, one wafer spread with olive oil, and a slice of bread, all taken from the basket that had been placed there before the Lord.
²⁷
 All this was placed in the hands of Aaron and his sons to present to the Lord by a gesture of waving them before the altar.
²⁸
 Moses then took it all back from them and burned it upon the altar, along with the burnt offering
*
to the Lord; and Jehovah was pleased by the offering.
²⁹
 Now Moses took the breast and presented it to the Lord by waving it before the altar; this was Moses’ portion of the ram of consecration, just as the Lord had instructed him.

    
³⁰
 Next he took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that had been sprinkled upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron and upon his clothes and upon his sons and upon their clothes, thus consecrating to the Lord’s use Aaron and his sons and their clothes.

    
³¹
 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the meat at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and eat it along with the bread that is in the basket of consecration, just as I instructed you to do.
³²
 Anything left of the meat and bread must be burned.”

    
³³
 Next he told them not to leave the Tabernacle entrance for seven days, after which time their consecration would be completed—for it takes seven days.
³⁴
 Then Moses stated again that all he had done that day had been commanded by the Lord in order to make atonement for them.
³⁵
 And again he warned Aaron and his sons to stay at the entrance of the Tabernacle day and night for seven days. “If you leave,” he told them, “you will die—this is what the Lord has said.”

    
³⁶
 So Aaron and his sons did all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

Leviticus
9

On the eighth day of the consecration ceremonies, Moses summoned Aaron and Aaron’s sons and the elders of Israel,
²
 and told Aaron to take a bull calf from the herd for a sin offering, and a ram without bodily defect for a burnt offering, and to offer them before the Lord.

    
³
 “And tell the people of Israel,” Moses instructed, “to select a male goat for their sin offering, also a yearling calf and a yearling lamb, all without bodily defect, for their burnt offering.
⁴
 In addition, the people are to bring to the Lord a peace offering sacrifice—an ox and a ram, and a grain offering—flour mingled with olive oil. For today,” Moses said, “Jehovah will appear to them.”

    
⁵
 So they brought all these things to the entrance of the Tabernacle, as Moses had commanded, and the people came and stood there before the Lord.

    
⁶
 Moses told them, “When you have followed the Lord’s instructions, his glory will appear to you.”

    
⁷
 Moses then told Aaron to proceed to the altar and to offer the sin offering and the burnt offering, making atonement for himself first, and then for the people, as the Lord had commanded.
⁸
 So Aaron went up to the altar and killed the calf as a sacrifice for his own sin;
⁹
 his sons caught the blood for him, and he dipped his finger in it and smeared it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the rest at the base of the altar.
¹⁰
 Then he burned upon the altar the fat, kidneys, and gall bladder from this sin offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses,
¹¹
 but he burned the meat and hide outside the camp.

    
¹²
 Next he killed the burnt offering animal, and his sons caught the blood, and he sprinkled it back and forth upon the altar;
¹³
 they brought the animal to him piece by piece, including the head, and he burned each part upon the altar.
¹⁴
 Then he washed the insides and the legs, and offered these also upon the altar as a burnt offering.

    
¹⁵
 Next he sacrificed the people’s offering; he killed the goat and offered it in just the same way as he had the sin offering for himself.
*
¹⁶
 Thus he sacrificed their burnt offering to the Lord, in accordance with the instructions God had given.

    
¹⁷
 Then he presented the grain offering, taking a handful and burning it upon the altar in addition to the regular morning offering.

    
¹⁸
 Next he killed the ox and ram—the people’s peace offering sacrifice; and Aaron’s sons brought the blood to him, and he sprinkled it back and forth upon the altar.
¹⁹
 Then he collected the fat of the ox and the ram—the fat from their tails and the fat covering the inner organs—and the kidneys and gall bladders.
²⁰
 The fat was placed upon the breasts of these animals, and Aaron burned it upon the altar;
²¹
 but he waved the breasts and right shoulders slowly before the Lord as a gesture of offering it to him, just as Moses had commanded.

    
²²
 Then, with hands spread out toward the people, Aaron blessed them and came down from the altar.
²³
 Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came out again they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole assembly.
²⁴
 Then fire came from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and fat on the altar; and when the people saw it, they all shouted and fell flat upon the ground before the Lord.

Leviticus
10

But Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, placed unholy fire in their censers, laid incense on the fire, and offered the incense before the Lord
*
—contrary to what the Lord had just commanded them!
²
 So fire blazed forth from the presence of the Lord and destroyed them.

    
³
 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when he said, ‘I will show myself holy among those who approach me, and I will be glorified before all the people.’” And Aaron was speechless.

    
⁴
 Then Moses called for Mishael and Elzaphon, Aaron’s cousins, the sons of Uzziel, and told them, “Go and get the charred bodies from before the Tabernacle, and carry them outside the camp.”

    
⁵
 So they went over and got them, and carried them out in their coats as Moses had told them to.

    
⁶
 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not mourn—do not let your hair hang loose as a sign of your mourning, and do not tear your clothes. If you do, God will strike you dead too, and his wrath will come upon all the people of Israel. But the rest of the people of Israel may lament the death of Nadab and Abihu, and mourn because of the terrible fire the Lord has sent.
⁷
 But you are not to leave the Tabernacle under penalty of death, for the anointing oil of Jehovah is upon you.” And they did as Moses commanded.

    
^8-9
 Now the Lord instructed Aaron, “Never drink wine or strong drink when you go into the Tabernacle, lest you die; and this rule applies to your sons and to all your descendants from generation to generation.
¹⁰
 Your duties will be to arbitrate for the people, to teach them the difference between what is holy and what is ordinary, what is pure and what is impure;
¹¹
 and to teach them all the laws Jehovah has given through Moses.”

    
¹²
 Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons who were left, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering—the food that remains after the handful has been offered to the Lord by burning it on the altar—make sure there is no leaven in it, and eat it beside the altar. The offering is most holy;
¹³
 therefore, you must eat it in the sanctuary, in a holy place. It belongs to you and to your sons, from the offerings to Jehovah made by fire; for so I am commanded.
¹⁴
 But the breast and the thigh, which have been offered to the Lord by the gesture of waving it before him, may be eaten in any holy place. It belongs to you and to your sons and daughters for your food. It is your portion of the peace offering sacrifices of the people of Israel.

    
¹⁵
 “The people are to bring the thigh that was set aside, along with the breast that was offered when the fat was burned, and they shall be presented before the Lord by the gesture of waving them. And afterwards they shall belong to you and your family, for the Lord has commanded this.”

    
¹⁶
 Then Moses searched everywhere for the goat of the sin offering and discovered that it had been burned! He was very angry about this with Eleazar and Ithamar, the remaining sons of Aaron.

    
¹⁷
 “Why haven’t you eaten the sin offering in the sanctuary, since it is most holy, and God has given it to you to take away the iniquity and guilt of the people, to make atonement for them before the Lord?” he demanded.
¹⁸
 “Since its blood was not taken inside the sanctuary, you should certainly have eaten it there, as I ordered you.”

    
¹⁹
 But Aaron interceded with Moses. “They offered their sin offering and burnt offering before the Lord,” he said, “but if I had eaten the sin offering on such a day as this, would it have pleased the Lord?”
²⁰
 And when Moses heard that, he was satisfied.