Exodus 29:30

29:30 The priest who succeeds him ¹  from his sons, when he first comes ²  to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. ³ 

Exodus 29:37

29:37 For seven days ⁴  you are to make atonement for the altar and set it apart as holy. Then the altar will be most holy. ⁵  Anything that touches the altar will be holy. ⁶ 

[29:30]  ¹ tn Heb “after him”; NCV, NLT “after Aaron.”

[29:30]  ² tn The text just has the relative pronoun and the imperfect tense. It could be translated “who comes/enters.” But the context seems to indicate that this would be when he first comes to the tent to begin his tenure as High Priest, and so a temporal clause makes this clear. “First” has been supplied.

[29:30]  ³ tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time. The ritual of ordination is to be repeated for seven days, and so they are to remain there in the court in full dress.

[29:37]  ⁴ tn Once again this is an adverbial accusative of time. Each day for seven days the ritual at the altar is to be followed.

[29:37]  ⁵ tn The construction is the superlative genitive: “holy of holies,” or “most holy.”

[29:37]  ⁶ sn This line states an unusual principle, meant to preserve the sanctity of the altar. S. R. Driver explains it this way (Exodus, 325): If anything comes in contact with the altar, it becomes holy and must remain in the sanctuary for Yahweh’s use. If a person touches the altar, he likewise becomes holy and cannot return to the profane regions. He will be given over to God to be dealt with as God pleases. Anyone who was not qualified to touch the altar did not dare approach it, for contact would have meant that he was no longer free to leave but was God’s holy possession – and might pay for it with his life (see Exod 30:29; Lev 6:18b, 27; and Ezek 46:20).