Knox Bible

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And there is more for thee to do, before they can be my consecrated priests. Choose a bullock out of the herd, and two rams without blemish.

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Then make unleavened bread, and unleavened pastry baked with oil, and unleavened cakes soaked in oil, all of pure wheat flour,

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and put them in a basket ready to be offered up. The bullock and the two rams

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thou shalt drive to the door of the tabernacle which bears record of me. Thither, too, thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons; and when thou hast washed them, father and sons in water,

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clothe Aaron in his vestments, the robe, the tunic, the mantle, and the burse made fast to his mantle’s band,

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and put the mitre on his head, and the holy plate over the mitre.

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And then anoint his head with oil; so shall he be consecrated.

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Then it is the turn of his sons to approach, and be clothed in their linen robes, and have their girdles tied

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and their mitres put on, like Aaron himself; so they shall be my priests, hallowed eternally.

When thou hast consecrated their hands,

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bring out the bullock in front of the tabernacle that bears record of me; there, when Aaron and his sons have laid their hands upon its head,

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thou shalt slay it in the Lord’s presence, at the tabernacle door.

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Some of its blood thou shalt smear, with thy hand, upon the horns of the altar; the rest thou shalt pour out at the altar’s foot.

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Then take all the fat about its entrails, the membrane of its liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them and offer them as a burnt-sacrifice on the altar;

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the flesh, skin and dung of the bullock thou shalt burn beyond the confines of the camp, as an offering for sin.

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Take one of the rams, too, and bid Aaron and his sons lay their hands upon its head;

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then kill it, and pour out some of its blood round the altar.

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Cut up the ram itself into pieces; put these and the head underneath, the entrails (when thou hast washed them) and the feet above,

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and so make a burnt-sacrifice of the whole ram upon the altar; the scent of the victim so offered to the Lord will find acceptance with him.

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Then take the other ram, Aaron and his sons laying their hands on its head meanwhile;

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and when thou hast killed this ram, put some of the blood on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot, and do the same by his sons. Pour blood, too, all round the surface of the altar,

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and then sprinkle with this, and with the oil used for anointing, Aaron and his sons, and the vestments they wear.

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So hallowing all alike, take the fat, the tail, the covering of the entrails, the membrane of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them, and the right shoulder from this ram, the victim of their consecration;

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take a loaf of bread, too, a piece of pastry cooked in oil, and one of the cakes, out of the basket that lies there before the Lord;

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and put all this in the hands of Aaron and his sons. Then raise it aloft in the Lord’s presence, and by that act they shall be consecrated, Aaron and his sons both.

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Then take all the offerings out of their hands again, and make a burnt-sacrifice of them upon the altar; the scent of them will be acceptable to the Lord, in whose honour they are offered up.

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The breast of the ram that is used in Aaron’s hallowing thou shalt remove, and sanctify it by holding it up in the Lord’s presence; this shall be thy own share.✻

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Thou shalt set apart this consecrated breast and shoulder, taken from the ram

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by which Aaron and Aaron’s line are hallowed, to be their lot, a fixed privilege the people of Israel will grant to them; these are the earnest and the first-fruits of those welcome-offerings which they make to the Lord.

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The sacred vestments which Aaron wore shall be worn by his sons after him when they are anointed and consecrated;

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whatever son of his shall succeed him, entering the tabernacle that bears record of me and ministering before me in the sanctuary, shall wear them for seven days continuously.

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As for the ram with which they were hallowed, it must be taken away and cooked in a holy place;

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and so Aaron and his sons will eat it. They, too, will eat the bread from the basket, in the porch of the tabernacle that bears record of me,

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so that the sacrifice of it may atone for them, and their hands be hallowed by the offering of it; these things are too holy to be eaten by anyone not of their family.

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Whatever remains till morning of the consecrated meat or bread must be burnt in the fire; it is too holy to be eaten.

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All this that I have told thee must be done to Aaron and his sons; thou art to spend seven days in consecrating their hands,

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and on each of those days a bullock must be sacrificed as a sin-offering to atone for them. So offering a victim to make atonement, thou wilt cleanse the altar, and sanctify it by anointing.

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Seven whole days thou must spend in winning favour for the altar and consecrating it; so it shall be all holiness, and whoever touches it shall become holy thereby.

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On this altar thou shalt sacrifice two lambs day by day, with no intermission;

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one is to be offered in the morning, the other in the evening.

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One lamb each morning, with a tenth of a bushel of flour, kneaded in three pints of pure oil, and as much wine for a libation;

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and another offered in the evening with the same rite and all the additional offerings aforesaid, a fragrance acceptable to the Lord.

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This is his sacrifice, to be performed day after day, by one generation of you after another, in the Lord’s presence, there at the door of the tabernacle that bears record, the appointed place where I will give thee audience.

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There I will issue my commands to the sons of Israel; that altar shall be hallowed by my glorious presence.

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Hallowed it shall be, and hallowed the tabernacle that bears record of me; hallowed shall Aaron be and his sons, for their priestly office.

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And I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites, and be their God;

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and they shall know me for the Lord God that rescued them from the land of Egypt, so as to abide among them, their Lord and their God.