Knox Bible

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And the Lord said to Moses,

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There are faults, too, committed in the Lord’s despite, when a man defrauds his neighbour of some loan that was entrusted to him for safe keeping, or extorts money by violence, or wrongs him at law,

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or perjures himself in denying that he has found something lost, or is guilty of some other offence such as men are prone to commit.

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If he is found guilty, he must make restitution,

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giving back in full all that he hoped to gain by his knavery, and a fifth part besides, to the owner whom he has wronged.

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He must make amends, too, for his fault by bringing to the priest a ram without blemish out of his flock, of greater or less worth as the wrong demands.

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The priest will make intercession for him before the Lord, and win pardon for all his wrongful deeds.

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The Lord also spoke to Moses

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giving him a commandment for Aaron and his sons: This is the rule which governs burnt-sacrifice. It is to be burnt on the altar all night till morning comes, with the altar’s own fire.

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The priest, clothed in his robe and linen breeches, will take away the ashes left by the fire which consumes it, and lay these down by the altar.

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Then, taking off the clothes he wears and putting on others, he will take the ashes away from the camp to a place already purified, and there calcine them.✻

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The fire on the altar must burn continually; each morning the priest will feed it with fresh logs, on which he will lay first the burnt-sacrifice, then the fat taken from the welcome-offering.

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Never must the altar be empty of this perpetual fire.

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And this is the rule that governs the bloodless offering which Aaron and his sons will make before the altar in the Lord’s presence.

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The priest will take a handful of the flour mingled with oil, and all the grains of incense that are laid on it; and these he will burn on the altar as a token-sacrifice, whose fragrance the Lord will accept.

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The rest of the flour, still with no leaven in it, Aaron and his sons will eat, upon hallowed ground within the court of the tabernacle that bears record of me.

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No leaven must be put into it, shared as it is with the Lord’s burnt-sacrifice; it is set apart for holy uses, like the offerings that are made for a fault or for a wrong done.

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Only the male descendants of Aaron may eat it. This is the rule to be observed continually, age after age, in offering the Lord sacrifice; whoever touches it becomes holy thereby.

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The Lord also said to Moses,

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This is the offering Aaron and his sons must make to the Lord when they are anointed; one tenth of a bushel of flour for a continuous offering,✻ half of it in the morning and half in the evening,

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mingled with oil and fried in a pan.

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It shall be offered still warm, acceptable to the Lord in its fragrance, by each priest succeeding to his father’s office, and the whole of it must be burnt on the altar.

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Every sacrifice made by the priests themselves must be altogether destroyed by fire; no one must eat any part of it.

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And the Lord spoke to Moses again,

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giving him a message for Aaron and his sons: This is the rule that governs the offering of a victim for transgression; it must be immolated before the Lord in the same place where burnt-sacrifices are offered; it is set apart for holy uses.

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The priest who offers it must eat his share on hallowed ground in the tabernacle court;

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whatever touches the flesh of it becomes holy thereby, and if his clothing is stained by its blood, it must be washed on hallowed ground.

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Even the earthenware pot in which it was cooked must be broken; or, if it is cooked in a pan of bronze, the pan must be scraped clean and washed in water.

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The flesh is set apart for holy uses, but it may be eaten by any male person belonging to the priestly family,

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except that of the transgression-victim whose blood has been taken into the tabernacle, to make atonement in the sanctuary; such a victim is not to be eaten, it must be destroyed by burning.✻