Knox Bible

1

And now the Lord said to Moses,

2

Bring with thee Aaron and his sons, and their sacred vestments, and the oil for anointing, and a young bullock such as is offered for a fault, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread,

3

and gather the whole assembly of the people at the tabernacle door.

4

Moses did as the Lord had bidden him; and when all the people had gathered before the entrance to the tabernacle,

5

he told them, I do this at the Lord’s express command.

6

With that, he presented Aaron and his sons; and when they had been duly washed,

7

he clothed the new high priest in the linen robe, and girded him with the girdle, and put the blue tunic on him, and the mantle over that,

8

binding it close with its band, and attaching to it the burse in which were the touchstones of wisdom and of truth.

9

He covered his head, too, with the mitre, and put in front of it the golden plate, sacred and set apart, as the Lord had bidden him.

10

Then he took the oil used for anointing, and with it he anointed the tabernacle and all its furniture;

11

anointed the altar, too, after consecrating it seven times by sprinkling, with all its appurtenances, and consecrated the basin and its stand with oil.

12

Then, pouring oil over Aaron’s head, he anointed and hallowed him.

13

Aaron’s sons, too, he brought forward, dressed them in linen robes, girded them with girdles, and put mitres on them, as the Lord had bidden him.

14

Then he offered a young bullock for their faults; Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head,

15

and Moses immolated it, drawing off its blood. In this he dipped his finger, and smeared it round the horns of the altar, till all was cleansed and hallowed; the rest he poured away at the altar’s foot.

16

The fat on the entrails, the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, he sacrificed on the altar,

17

burning the carcase, skin and flesh and dung, away from the camp, as the Lord had bidden him.

18

He offered a ram, too, as a burnt-sacrifice; Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head,

19

and so he immolated it, pouring away its blood round the altar.

20

This ram he cut into joints, and sacrificed it, head and limbs and fat, upon the altar,

21

first washing its entrails and its feet; so he burnt the whole ram on the altar, a sacrifice such as the Lord had commanded, to please him with the smell of its burning.

22

Another ram he offered for the hallowing of the priests; Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head

23

and now, after immolating it, Moses took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot.

24

Then he brought forward Aaron’s sons, smeared them, ear and thumb and toe, with the ram’s blood, and poured away what was left of it about the altar.

25

He set on one side the fat of the tail, and all the fat that covered the entrails, the caul of the liver, the two kidneys with their fat, and the right shoulder.

26

Then he added to the fat and the shoulder an unleavened loaf, a cake made with oil, and a piece of pastry, from the basket of unleavened bread that lay there before the Lord;

27

and he gave all these to Aaron and his sons, who lifted them up in the Lord’s presence.

28

So they were handed back to Moses, and he burnt them on the sacrificial altar as an offering for their consecration, a smell of burning for the Lord to accept.

29

The breast of this ram they were hallowed with, he took, as the Lord bade him, for his own portion, after lifting it up in the Lord’s presence.

30

Then he took the holy oil, and the blood from the altar, and sprinkled them over Aaron and his sons, and the vestments they wore.

31

And now that they were hallowed, vestments and all, he told them, Cook the flesh before the tabernacle door, and eat it there; the bread, too, that is offered for your hallowing, that lies there in the basket; such was the Lord’s command to me, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.

32

If any is left over, of the meat or of the bread, it must be destroyed by fire.

33

But you must not leave the entrance of the tabernacle for seven days, till the time of your hallowing is complete; for seven days your hallowing must continue

34

with all to-day’s solemnities, before the rite of your consecration takes full effect.

35

Night and day you must make the tabernacle your home, on pain of death, keeping vigil in the Lord’s honour; this was the command given to me.

36

Such was the Lord’s bidding through Moses, and Aaron and his sons faithfully observed it.