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Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the presence of the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
3 “This is how Aaron is to enter the sanctuary area: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with the linen undergarments next to his body. He is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments, so he must bathe his body with water before he puts them on. 5 He is to take from the Israelite community two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
6 “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering, to make atonement for himself and his household. 7 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 8 Aaron will then cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and sacrifice it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot fell as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to used for making atonement by sending it away into the wilderness as a scapegoat.
11 “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12 Then he is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring them inside the curtain. 13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the smoke of the incense covers the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, or he will die. 14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat; then he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger before the mercy seat seven times.
15 “He shall then slaughter the goat of the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the curtain, and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood; he shall sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place, because of the uncleanness and rebellious acts of the Israelites, and for the transgressions of all their sins. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting, which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 No one may be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron enters to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out after he has made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel.
18 “Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood, and put it on all of the horns of the altar. 19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
20 “When Aaron has finished atoning for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 He is to lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. Then he shall send it away into the wilderness by the man appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities to a desolate region; and the man shall release the goat into the wilderness.
23 “Then Aaron is to go into the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he went into the Most Holy Place, and leave the garments there. 24 He shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, making atonement for himself and for the people. 25 He shall also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.
26 “The man who released the goat as the scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; afterward he may come into the camp. 27 The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp, and their hides, their flesh, and their offal must be burned up. 28 The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; afterward he may come into the camp.
29 “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must deny yourselves and not do any work, whether native-born or a foreigner living among you. 30 This is the day that atonement will be made for you to cleanse you, so you shall afterwards be clean from all your sins before the Lord. 31 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must deny yourselves; this is to be a perpetual statute. 32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as high priest in place of his father is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments, 33 and make atonement for Most Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting, and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and all the people of the assembly.
34 “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you, to make atonement for the Israelites once a year for all their sins.”
And all this was done as the Lord commanded Moses.