Exodus 29 - 30
Setting Apart the Priests
29“aNow this is 1what you shall do to them to set them apart as holy to minister as priests to Me: take one bull from the herd and two rams without blemish, 2and aunleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers 1spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. 3“And you shall put them in one basket and bring them near in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. 4“Then ayou shall bring Aaron and his sons near to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 5“And you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the atunic and bthe robe of the ephod and cthe ephod and dthe 1breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully ewoven band of the ephod; 6and you shall set the aturban on his head and put bthe holy crown on the turban. 7“Then you shall take athe anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8“And you shall bring his sons near and put atunics on them. 9“You shall gird them with asashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind 1caps on them, and they shall have bthe priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall 2,cordain Aaron and his sons.
Slaughtering the Offerings
10“Then you shall bring the bull near before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall alay their hands on the head of the bull. 11“You shall slaughter the bull before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 12“You shall atake some of the blood of the bull and put it on bthe horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. 13“You shall atake all the fat that covers the entrails and the 1lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and you shall offer them up in smoke on the altar. 14“But athe flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
15“aYou shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram; 16and you shall slaughter the ram, and you shall take its blood and splash it around on the altar. 17“Then you shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them 1with its pieces and 2its head. 18“You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to Yahweh: ait is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yahweh.
19“Then ayou shall take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20“You shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and splash the rest of the blood around on the altar. 21“Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the aanointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; so he and his garments shall be set apart as holy, as well as his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
22“You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails and the 1lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them and the right thigh (for it is a ram of 2ordination), 23and one cake of bread and aone cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which is set before Yahweh; 24and you shall put 1all these 2in the 3hands of Aaron and 4in the 5hands of his sons, and you shall wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. 25“aYou shall take them from their hands and offer them up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering for a soothing aroma before Yahweh; it is an offering by fire to Yahweh.
26“Then you shall take athe breast of Aaron’s ram of 1ordination and wave it as a wave offering before Yahweh; and it shall be your portion. 27“You shall set apart as holy the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the 1contribution offering which was waved and which was 2raised up as a contribution from the ram of 3ordination, from the one which was for Aaron and from the one which was for his sons. 28“It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a perpetual statute from the sons of Israel, for it is a 1contribution offering; and it shall be a 2contribution offering from the sons of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their 3contribution offering to Yahweh.
29“aThe holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, 1that in them they may be anointed and ordained. 30“For seven days the one of his sons who is priest in his stead shall put them on when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.
Yahweh Will Meet and Speak to Israel
31“You shall take the ram of 1ordination and aboil its flesh in a holy place. 32“Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 33“Thus athey shall eat 1those things by which atonement was made 2to ordain them, 3to set them apart as holy; but a 4,blayman shall not eat them, because they are holy. 34“aIf any of the flesh of 1ordination or any of the bread remains until morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
35“Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; you shall 1ordain them through aseven days. 36“aEach day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall 1purify the altar when you make atonement 2for it, and byou shall anoint it to set it apart as holy. 37“For seven days you shall make atonement 1for the altar and set it apart as holy; then athe altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy.
38“Now athis is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. 39“The aone lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the second lamb you shall offer 1at twilight; 40and there shall be 1one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a 2hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with the one lamb. 41“The second lamb you shall offer 1at twilight, and you shall offer with it 2the same grain offering and 3the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yahweh. 42“It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before Yahweh, awhere I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 43“I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be set apart as holy by My glory. 44“I will set the tent of meeting and the altar apart as holy; I will also set Aaron and his sons apart as holy to minister as priests to Me. 45“aI will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 46“They shall know that aI am Yahweh their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am Yahweh their God.
The Altar of Incense
30“Moreover, you shall make aan altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2“Its length shall be a 1cubit, and its width a cubit; it shall be square. And its height shall be two cubits; its horns shall be 2of the same piece. 3“You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its 1sides all around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around for it. 4“You shall make two gold rings for it under its molding; you shall make them on its two side walls—on 1opposite sides—and 2they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. 5“You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6“You shall put 1this altar in front of the veil that is 2near the ark of the testimony, in front of the 3,amercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you. 7“Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. 8“When Aaron 1trims the lamps 2at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be continual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations. 9“You shall not offer any strange incense on 1this altar or burnt offering or grain offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. 10“Aaron shall amake atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh.”
The Census and the Atonement Price
11Yahweh also spoke to Moses, saying, 12“When you take aa 1census of the sons of Israel 2to number them, then each one of them shall give ba price of atonement for 3himself to Yahweh when you 4number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you 5number them. 13“This is what everyone who 1is numbered shall give: half a 2shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (athe shekel is twenty 3gerahs), half a shekel as a 4contribution to Yahweh. 14“Everyone who 1is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the 2contribution to Yahweh. 15“The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel when you give the 1contribution to Yahweh to make atonement for your souls. 16“And you shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a remembrance for the sons of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.”
The Laver for the Priestly Washing
17And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 18“You shall also make aa laver of 1bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing; and you shall bput it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. 19“And Aaron and his sons shall awash their hands and their feet from it; 20when they come into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to Yahweh. 21“So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and ait shall be a perpetual statute for them, for 1Aaron and his seed throughout their generations.”
The Holy Anointing Oil
22Moreover, Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23“But as for you, take for yourself the finest of spices: of flowing myrrh 500 shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, 250, and of fragrant cane 250, 24and of cassia 500, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a 1hin. 25“And you shall make 1of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be aa holy anointing oil. 26“And with it ayou shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand. 29“You shall also set them apart as holy, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy. 30“aAnd you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and you shall set them apart as holy, that they may minister as priests to Me. 31“And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32‘It shall not be poured on 1anyone’s body, nor shall you make any like it in 2the same specifications; ait is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33‘aWhoever shall mix any like it or whoever puts any of it on a 1layman 2,bshall be cut off from his people.’”
The Incense
34Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Take for yourself fragrances, stacte and onycha and galbanum, fragrances with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. 35“With it you shall make incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. 36“You shall beat some of it very fine, and you shall put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting awhere I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you. 37“The incense which you shall make, ayou shall not make in 1the same specifications for yourselves; it shall be holy to you for Yahweh. 38“aWhoever shall make any like it, to 1use as perfume, 2shall be cut off from his people.”