Exodus 29

Instructions about Consecration

1 "This is what you are to do for them to consecrate them to serve Me as priests. Take a young bull and two unblemished rams, 2 with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers coated with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour, 3 put them in a basket, and bring them in the basket, along with the bull and two rams. 4 Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 5 Then take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe for the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastpiece; fasten the ephod on him with its woven waistband. 6 Put the turban on his head and place the holy diadem on the turban. 7 Take the anointing oil, pour [it] on his head, and anoint him. 8 You must also bring his sons, clothe them with tunics.

9 Tie the sashes on Aaron and his sons and fasten headbands on them. The priesthood is to be theirs by a permanent statute. This is the way you will ordain Aaron and his sons.
10 "You are to bring the bull to the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the bull's head. 11 Slaughter the bull before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 12 Take some of the bull's blood and apply [it] to the horns of the altar with your finger; then pour out all the [rest] of the blood at the base of the altar. 13 Take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them, and burn [them] on the altar.

14 But burn up the bull's flesh, its hide, and its dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
15 "Take one ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram's head. 16 You are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and sprinkle [it] on all sides of the altar. 17 Cut the ram into pieces. Wash its entrails and shanks, and place [them] with its head and its pieces [on the altar].

18 Then burn the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma, a fire offering to the Lord.
19 "You are to take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the ram's head. 20 Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on Aaron's right earlobe, on his sons' right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Sprinkle the [remaining] blood on all sides of the altar.

21 Take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle [them] on Aaron and his garments, as well as on his sons and their garments. In this way, he and his garments will become holy, as well as his sons and their garments.
22 "Take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the fatty lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, and the right thigh (since this is a ram for ordination); 23 take one loaf of bread, one cake of bread [made] with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord; 24 and put all of them in the hands of Aaron and his sons and wave them as a presentation offering before the Lord.

25 Take them from their hands and burn [them] on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before the Lord; it is a fire offering to the Lord.
26 "Take the breast from the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it as a presentation offering before the Lord; it is to be your portion. 27 Consecrate for Aaron and his sons the breast of the presentation offering that is waved and the thigh of the contribution that is lifted up from the ram of ordination.

28 This will belong to Aaron and his sons as a regular portion from the Israelites, for it is a contribution. It will be the Israelites' contribution from their fellowship sacrifices, their contribution to the Lord.
29 "The holy garments that belong to Aaron are to belong to his sons after him, so that they can be anointed and ordained in them.

30 Any priest who is one of his sons and who succeeds him and enters the tent of meeting to minister in the sanctuary must wear them for seven days.
31 "You are to take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. 32 Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 33 They must eat those things by which atonement was made at [the time of] their ordination and consecration. An unauthorized person must not eat [them], for these things are holy.

34 If any of the meat of ordination or any of the bread is left until morning, burn up what is left over. It must not be eaten because it is holy.
35 "This is what you are to do for Aaron and his sons based on all I have commanded you. Take seven days to ordain them. 36 Sacrifice a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement. Purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and anoint it in order to consecrate it.

37 For seven days you must make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. The altar will become especially holy; whatever touches the altar will become holy.
38 "This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar every day: two year-old lambs. 39 In the morning offer one lamb, and at twilight offer the other lamb. 40 With the first lamb offer two quarts of fine flour mixed with one quart of oil from crushed olives, and a drink offering of one quart of wine. 41 You are to offer the second lamb at twilight. Offer a grain offering and a drink offering with it, like the one in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, a fire offering to the Lord. 42 This will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you. 43 I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests. 45 I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.

46 And they will know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them. I am Yahweh their God.

Exodus 29

Instructions for ordaining priests

(Leviticus 8.1-36)

The Lord said to Moses:

1 When you ordain one of Aaron's sons as my priest, choose a young bull and two rams that have nothing wrong with them. 2 Then from your finest flour make three batches of dough without yeast. Shape some of it into larger loaves, some into smaller loaves mixed with olive oil, and the rest into thin wafers brushed with oil.

3 Put all this bread in a basket and bring it when you come to sacrifice the three animals to me.
4 Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the sacred tent and make them wash themselves. 5 Dress Aaron in the priestly shirt, the robe that goes under the sacred apron, the apron itself, the breastpiece, and the sash. 6 Put on his turban with its narrow strip of engraved gold

7 and then ordain him by pouring olive oil on his head.
8 Next, dress Aaron's sons in their special shirts

9 and caps and their sashes,t then ordain them, because they and their descendants will always be priests.
10 Lead the bull to the entrance of the sacred tent, where Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on its head. 11 Kill the bull near my altar in front of the tent. 12 Use a finger to smear some of its blood on each of the four corners of the altar and pour out the rest of the blood on the ground next to the altar. 13 Then take the fat from the animal's insides, as well as the lower part of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and send them up in smoke on the altar.

14 But the meat, the skin, and the food still in the bull's stomach must be burnt outside the camp as an offering to ask forgiveness for the sins of the priests.t
15 Bring one of the rams to Aaron and his sons and make them lay their hands on its head. 16 Kill the ram and splatter its blood against all four sides of the altar. 17 Cut up the ram, wash its insides and legs, and lay all its parts on the altar, including the head.

18 Then make sure that the whole animal goes up in smoke with a smell that pleases me.t
19 Bring the other ram to Aaron and his sons and make them lay their hands on its head. 20 Kill the ram and place some of its blood on Aaron's right ear lobe, his right thumb, and the big toe of his right foot. Do the same for each of his sons and splatter the rest of the blood against the four sides of the altar.

21 Then take some of the blood from the altar, mix it with the oil used for ordination, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his clothes, and also on his sons and their clothes. This will show that they and their clothes have been dedicated to me.
22 This ram is part of the ordination service. So remove its right hind leg,t its fat tail, the fat on its insides, as well as the lower part of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat. 23 Take one loaf of each kind of breadt from the basket, 24 and put this bread, together with the meat, into the hands of Aaron and his sons. Then they will lift it all upt to show that it is dedicated to me.

25 After this, the meat and bread are to be placed on the altar and sent up in smoke with a smell that pleases me.

26 You may eat the choice ribs from this second ram, but you must first lift them upt to show that this meat is dedicated to me.

27-28 In the future, when anyone from Israel offers the ribs and a hind leg of a ram either to ordain a priest or to ask for my blessing, the meat belongs to me, but it may be eaten by the priests. This law will never change.

29-30 After Aaron's death, his priestly clothes are to be handed down to each descendant who succeeds him as high priest, and these clothes must be worn during the seven-day ceremony of ordination.
31 Boil the meat of the ordination ram in a sacred place, 32 then Aaron and his sons are to eat it together with the three kinds of breadt at the entrance to the sacred tent. 33 At their ordination, a ceremony of forgiveness was performed for them with this sacred food, and only they have the right to eat it.

34 If any of the sacred food is left until morning, it must be burnt up.
35 Repeat this ordination ceremony for Aaron and his sons seven days in a row, just as I have instructed you. 36 Each day you must offer a bull as a sacrifice for sin and as a way of purifying the altar. In addition, you must smear the altar with olive oil to make it completely holy.

37 Do this for seven days, and the altar will become so holy that anyone who touches it will become holy.

Daily sacrifices

(Leviticus 6.8-13; Numbers 28.1-8)

The Lord said:

42-43 You and your descendants must always offer this sacrifice on the altar at the entrance to the sacred tent.
People of Israel, I will meet and speak with you there, and my shining glory will make the place holy. 44 Because of who I am, the tent will become sacred, and Aaron and his sons will become worthy to serve as my priests. 45 I will live among you as your God, 46 and you will know that I am the Lord your God, the one who rescued you from Egypt, so that I could live among you.