Leviticus 16 · WEB
The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
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Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had drawn near before Yahweh and died;
2and Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.
3"Aaron shall come into the sanctuary with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
4He shall put on the holy linen coat. He shall have the linen trousers on his body, and shall put on the linen sash, and he shall be clothed with the linen turban. These are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water, and put them on.
5He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6"Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house.
7He shall take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
8Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats; one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering.
10But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be set alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for the scapegoat into the wilderness.
11"Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.
12He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil.
13He shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he doesn't die.
14He shall take some of the bull's blood, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
15"Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring its blood within the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.
16He shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so he shall do for the Tent of Meeting, that dwells with them in the middle of their uncleanness.
17No one shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.
18"He shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the bull's blood, and some of the goat's blood, and put it on the horns of the altar all around.
19He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and make it holy from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
20"When he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
21Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away by the hand of a man who is in readiness into the wilderness.
22The goat shall carry all their iniquities on itself to a solitary land, and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.
23"Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting, and shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there.
24Then he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people.
25The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.
26He who lets the goat go for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
27The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp; and they shall burn their skins, their flesh, and their dung with fire.
28He who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
29"It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no kind of work, whether the native-born, or the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you;
30for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Yahweh.
31It is a sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.
32The priest, who is anointed and who is consecrated to be priest in his father's place, shall make the atonement. He shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments.
33He shall make atonement for the Most Holy Place; and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.
34This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel once in the year because of all their sins." It was done as Yahweh commanded Moses.
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Summary
Chapter 16 describes Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement — the most sacred day in Israel's religious calendar. Once a year, the high priest alone enters the Most Holy Place to make atonement first for himself, then for the entire nation. He offers a bull for his own sins and then brings two goats: one is sacrificed as a sin offering whose blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat, and the other — the "scapegoat" — has all Israel's sins confessed over it before being sent into the wilderness, bearing the nation's iniquities away. The Day of Atonement is to be observed on the tenth day of the seventh month as a perpetual sabbath of rest and fasting, and it remains the holiest day in the Jewish calendar (Yom Kippur) to this day.
Themes
- Atonement is God's initiative and provision — it occurs on his terms and through his appointed means
- Complete removal of sin — the scapegoat pictures sin being carried far away, never to return
- The high priest as mediator between a holy God and a sinful people
- The holiness of God's presence demands careful, costly preparation before approaching
Key verses
- Lev 16:2 — “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat... lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.”
- Lev 16:21-22 — “Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away... into the wilderness. The goat shall carry all their iniquities on itself to a solitary land.”
- Lev 16:30 — “For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Yahweh.”
Context & background
The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, Hebrew for "Day of Covering/Atonement") was given at Mount Sinai (modern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt) and is observed on the tenth of Tishri (September/October). It is still the holiest day in Judaism, observed with a twenty-five-hour fast and solemn prayer. The book of Hebrews devotes chapters 9-10 to interpreting the Day of Atonement through the lens of Christ's sacrifice: Jesus is the ultimate high priest who entered the true Most Holy Place (heaven itself) once for all with his own blood, permanently removing sin. The two-goat ceremony powerfully pictures two aspects of atonement: propitiation (blood applied to the mercy seat, satisfying God's justice) and expiation (sin removed and carried away entirely).
Cross-references
- Exod 25:17-22 — The mercy seat (*kapporeth*, "place of atonement") described
- Heb 10:1-4, 10-14 — The repeated Day of Atonement sacrifices are contrasted with Christ's once-for-all offering
- Heb 9:7, 11-14 — Christ as high priest enters the true Most Holy Place with his own blood
- Isa 53:6 — "Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all" — the ultimate scapegoat
- Ps 103:12 — "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us" — the scapegoat imagery