Lev 16:11-17 | NET2full | STEP | “ Aaron is to present the sin-offering bull which is for himself, and he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household . He is to slaughter the sin-offering bull which is for himself,

Leviticus 16:11-17

The Sin-Offering Sacrificial Procedures

11 “Aaron is to present the sin-offering bull which is for himself, and he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. He is to slaughter the sin-offering bull which is for himself, 12 and take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord ^{▼▼tn Heb “and he shall take the fullness of the censer, coals of fire, from on the altar from to the faces of the Lord.”} and a full double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, ^{▼▼tn Heb “and the fullness of the hollow of his two hands, finely ground fragrant incense.”} and bring them inside the curtain. ^{▼▼tn Heb “and he shall bring from house to the curtain.”} 13 He must then put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of incense will cover the atonement lid which is above the ark of the testimony, ^{▼▼tn The text here has only “above the testimony,” but this is surely a shortened form of “above the ark of the testimony” (see Exod 25:22 etc.; cf. Lev 16:2). The term “testimony” in this expression refers to the ark as the container of the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them (see Exod 25:16 with Deut 10:1, 5, etc.).} so that he will not die. ^{▼▼tn Heb “and he will not die,” but it is clear that the purpose for the incense cloud was to protect the priest from death in the presence of the Lord (cf. vv. 1-2 above).} 14 Then he is to take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the eastern face of the atonement lid, ^{▼▼tn Heb “on the faces of the atonement lid toward the east.” Some have taken this to mean that the ark was stationed just behind the veil-canopy on the eastern side of the most holy place. Thus, the high priest would need to enter and walk toward the west end of the most holy place and then turn eastward in order to face the ark and sprinkle the blood in an eastward direction. The rendering here, however, requires that the ark was stationed on the western end, or perhaps in the middle of the area, so that as the priest entered he was already facing the ark and would sprinkle the blood on the eastern face of the atonement lid, in a westward direction (see, e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 239 versus J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1032).} and in front of the atonement lid he is to sprinkle some of the blood seven times with his finger. ^{▼▼sn Presumably in this case the blood was sprinkled seven times on the ground in front of the ark on which the atonement lid was mounted.}

15 “Aaron ^{▼▼tn Heb “he”; the referent has been supplied in the translation for clarity.} must then slaughter the sin-offering goat which is for the people. He is to bring its blood inside the curtain, ^{▼▼tn Heb “and he shall bring its blood into from house to the curtain.”} and he is to do with its blood just as he did to the blood of the bull: He is to sprinkle it on the atonement lid and in front of the atonement lid. 16 So ^{▼▼tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.} he is to make atonement for the Holy Place from the impurities of the Israelites and from their transgressions with regard to all their sins, ^{▼▼tn Heb “to all their sins.”} and thus he is to do for the Meeting Tent which resides with them in the midst of their impurities. 17 Nobody is to be in the Meeting Tent ^{▼▼tn Heb “And all man shall not be in the tent of meeting.” The term for “a man, human being” (אָדָם, ʾadam; see the note on Lev 1:2) refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female.} when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he goes out, and he has made atonement on his behalf, on behalf of his household, and on behalf of the whole assembly of Israel.