Hebrews 7:27

7:27 He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all.

Hebrews 9:7

9:7 But only the high priest enters once a year into the inner tent, ¹  and not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. ² 

Exodus 29:12-19

29:12 and take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar ³  with your finger; all the rest of ⁴  the blood you are to pour out at the base of the altar. 29:13 You are to take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the lobe ⁵  that is above the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them ⁶  on the altar. 29:14 But the meat of the bull, its skin, and its dung you are to burn up ⁷  outside the camp. ⁸  It is the purification offering. ⁹ 

29:15 “You are to take one ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head, 29:16 and you are to kill the ram and take its blood and splash it all around on the altar. 29:17 Then you are to cut the ram into pieces and wash the entrails and its legs and put them on its pieces and on its head 29:18 and burn ¹⁰  the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering ¹¹  to the Lord, a soothing aroma; it is an offering made by fire ¹²  to the Lord. ¹³ 

29:19 “You are to take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head,

Leviticus 4:3-12

For the Priest

4:3 “‘If the high priest ¹⁴  sins so that the people are guilty, ¹⁵  on account of the sin he has committed he must present a flawless young bull to the Lord ¹⁶  for a sin offering. ¹⁷  4:4 He must bring the bull to the entrance of the Meeting Tent before the Lord, lay his hand on the head of the bull, and slaughter the bull before the Lord. 4:5 Then that high priest must take some of the blood ¹⁸  of the bull and bring it to the Meeting Tent. 4:6 The priest must dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle ¹⁹  some of it ²⁰  seven times before the Lord toward ²¹  the front of the veil-canopy ²²  of the sanctuary. 4:7 The priest must put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the Meeting Tent, and all the rest of the bull’s blood he must pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.

4:8 “‘Then he must take up all the fat from the sin offering bull: ²³  the fat covering the entrails ²⁴  and all the fat surrounding the entrails, ²⁵  4:9 the two kidneys with the fat on their sinews, and the protruding lobe on the liver (which he is to remove along with the kidneys) ²⁶  4:10 – just as it is taken from the ox of the peace offering sacrifice ²⁷  – and the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering. 4:11 But the hide of the bull, all its flesh along with its head and its legs, its entrails, and its dung – 4:12 all the rest of the bull ²⁸  – he must bring outside the camp ²⁹  to a ceremonially clean place, ³⁰  to the fatty ash pile, ³¹  and he must burn ³²  it on a wood fire; it must be burned on the fatty ash pile.

Leviticus 8:14-21

Consecration Offerings

8:14 Then he brought near the sin offering bull ³³  and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the sin offering bull, 8:15 and he slaughtered it. ³⁴  Moses then took the blood and put it all around on the horns of the altar with his finger and decontaminated the altar, ³⁵  and he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and so consecrated it to make atonement on it. ³⁶  8:16 Then he ³⁷  took all the fat on the entrails, the protruding lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, ³⁸  and Moses offered it all up in smoke on the altar, ³⁹  8:17 but the rest of the bull – its hide, its flesh, and its dung – he completely burned up ⁴⁰  outside the camp just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴¹ 

8:18 Then he presented the burnt offering ram and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, 8:19 and he slaughtered it. ⁴²  Moses then splashed the blood against the altar’s sides. 8:20 Then he ⁴³  cut the ram into parts, ⁴⁴  and Moses offered the head, the parts, and the suet up in smoke, 8:21 but the entrails and the legs he washed with water, ⁴⁵  and Moses offered the whole ram up in smoke on the altar – it was a burnt offering for a soothing aroma, a gift to the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴⁶ 

Leviticus 9:7

9:7 Moses then said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and make your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement on behalf of yourself and on behalf of the people; ⁴⁷  and also make the people’s offering and make atonement on behalf of them just as the Lord has commanded.”

Leviticus 16:6

16:6 Then Aaron is to present the sin offering bull which is for himself and is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household.

Leviticus 16:15

16:15 “He must then slaughter the sin offering goat which is for the people. He is to bring its blood inside the veil-canopy, ⁴⁸  and he is to do with its blood just as he did to the blood of the bull: He is to sprinkle it on the atonement plate and in front of the atonement plate.

[9:7]  ¹ tn Grk “the second tent.”

[9:7]  ² tn Or perhaps “the unintentional sins of the people”; Grk “the ignorances of the people.” Cf. BDAG 13 s.v. ἀγνόημα, “sin committed in ignorance/unintentionally.” This term seems to be simply a synonym for “sins” (cf. Heb 5:2) and does not pick up the distinction made in Num 15:22-31 between unwitting sin and “high-handed” sin. The Day of Atonement ritual in Lev 16 covered all the sins of the people, not just the unwitting ones.

[29:12]  ³ sn This act seems to have signified the efficacious nature of the blood, since the horns represented power. This is part of the ritual of the sin offering for laity, because before the priests become priests they are treated as laity. The offering is better described as a purification offering rather than a sin offering, because it was offered, according to Leviticus, for both sins and impurities. Moreover, it was offered primarily to purify the sanctuary so that the once-defiled or sinful person could enter (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB]).

[29:12]  ⁴ tn The phrase “rest of” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[29:13]  ⁵ tn S. R. Driver suggests that this is the appendix or an appendix, both here and in v. 22 (Exodus, 320). “The surplus, the appendage of liver, found with cow, sheep, or goat, but not with humans: Lobus caudatus” (HALOT 453 s.v. יֹתֶרֶת).

[29:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “turn [them] into sweet smoke” since the word is used for burning incense.

[29:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “burn with fire.”

[29:14]  ⁸ sn This is to be done because there is no priesthood yet. Once they are installed, then the sin/purification offering is to be eaten by the officiating priests as a sign that the offering was received. But priests could not consume their own sin offering.

[29:14]  ⁹ sn There were two kinds of “purification offering,” those made with confession for sin and those made without. The title needs to cover both of them, and if it is called in the traditional way “the sin offering,” that will convey that when people offered it for skin diseases, menstruation, or having babies, they had sinned. That was not the case. Moreover, it is usual to translate the names of the sacrifices by what they do more than what they cover – so peace offering, reparation offering, and purification offering.

[29:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “turn to sweet smoke.”

[29:18]  ¹¹ sn According to Lev 1 the burnt offering (often called whole burnt offering, except that the skins were usually given to the priests for income) was an atoning sacrifice. By consuming the entire animal, God was indicating that he had completely accepted the worshiper, and as it was a sweet smelling fire sacrifice, he was indicating that he was pleased to accept it. By offering the entire animal, the worshiper was indicating on his part a complete surrender to God.

[29:18]  ¹² tn The word אִשֶּׁה (’isheh) has traditionally been translated “an offering made with fire” or the like, because it appears so obviously connected with fire. But further evidence from Ugaritic suggests that it might only mean “a gift” (see Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16, 161).

[29:18]  ¹³ sn These sections show that the priest had to be purified or cleansed from defilement of sin and also be atoned for and accepted by the Lord through the blood of the sacrifice. The principles from these two sacrifices should be basic to anyone seeking to serve God.

[4:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the anointed priest” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the high priest (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to the guilt of the people”; NRSV “thus bringing guilt on the people.”

[4:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he shall offer on his sin which he sinned, a bull, a son of the herd, flawless.”

[4:3]  ¹⁷ sn The word for “sin offering” (sometimes translated “purification offering”) is the same as the word for “sin” earlier in the verse. One can tell which rendering is intended only by the context. The primary purpose of the “sin offering” (חַטָּאת, khatta’t) was to “purge” (כִּפֶּר, kipper, “to make atonement,” see 4:20, 26, 31, 35, and the notes on Lev 1:4 and esp. Lev 16:20, 33) the sanctuary or its furniture in order to cleanse it from any impurities and/or (re)consecrate it for holy purposes (see, e.g., Lev 8:15; 16:19). By making this atonement the impurities of the person or community were cleansed and the people became clean. See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:93-103.

[4:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from the blood of the bull” (and similarly throughout this chapter).

[4:6]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter.” Contrast the different Hebrew verb meaning “splash” in Lev 1:5 (זָרָק, zaraq).

[4:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “of the blood.” The relative pronoun (“it”) has been used in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

[4:6]  ²¹ tn The particle here translated “toward” usually serves as a direct object indicator or a preposition meaning “with.” With the verb of motion it probably means “toward,” “in the direction of” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:234; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 60); cf. NAB, CEV.

[4:6]  ²² tn The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB) or “curtain” (e.g., NIV, NRSV), but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).

[4:8]  ²³ tn Heb “all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall take up from it.”

[4:8]  ²⁴ tc The MT has here the preposition עַל (’al, “on, upon” [i.e., “which covers on the entrails,” as awkward in Hebrew as it is in English]), but Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Targums read אֶת (’et), which is what would be expected (i.e., “which covers the entrails”; cf. Lev 3:3, 9, 14). It may have been mistakenly inserted here under the influence of “on (עַל) the entrails” at the end of the verse.

[4:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and all the fat on the entrails.” The fat layer that covers the entrails as a whole (i.e., “that covers the entrails”) is different from the fat that surrounds and adheres to the various organs (“on the entrails,” i.e., surrounding them; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:205-7).

[4:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and the protruding lobe on the liver on the kidneys he shall remove it.”

[4:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “taken up from”; KJV, ASV “taken off from”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “removed.” See the notes on Lev 3:3-4 above (cf. also 3:9-10, 14-15).

[4:12]  ²⁸ tn All of v. 11 is a so-called casus pendens (also known as an extraposition or a nominative absolute), which means that it anticipates the next verse, being the full description of “all (the rest of) the bull” (lit. “all the bull”) at the beginning of v. 12 (actually after the first verb of the verse; see the next note below).

[4:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “And he (the offerer) shall bring out all the bull to from outside to the camp to a clean place.”

[4:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a clean place,” but referring to a place that is ceremonially clean. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “the pouring out [place] of fatty ash.”

[4:12]  ³² tn Heb “burn with fire.” This expression is somewhat redundant in English, so the translation collocates “fire” with “wood,” thus “a wood fire.”

[8:14]  ³³ sn See Lev 4:3-12 above for the sin offering of the priests. In this case, however, the blood manipulation is different because Moses, not Aaron (and his sons), is functioning as the priest. On the one hand, Aaron and his sons are, in a sense, treated as if they were commoners so that the blood manipulation took place at the burnt offering altar in the court of the tabernacle (see v. 15 below), not at the incense altar inside the tabernacle tent itself (contrast Lev 4:5-7 and compare 4:30). On the other hand, since it was a sin offering for the priests, therefore, the priests themselves could not eat its flesh (Lev 4:11-12; 6:30 [23 HT]), which was the normal priestly practice for sin offerings of commoners (Lev 6:26[19], 29[22]).

[8:15]  ³⁴ sn Contrary to some English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT), Aaron (not Moses) most likely slaughtered the bull, possibly with the help of his sons, although the verb is singular, not plural. Moses then performed the ritual procedures that involved direct contact with the altar. Compare the pattern in Lev 1:5-9, where the offerer does the slaughtering and the priests perform the procedures that involve direct contact with the altar. In Lev 8 Moses is functioning as the priest in order to consecrate the priesthood. The explicit reintroduction of the name of Moses as the subject of the next verb seems to reinforce this understanding of the passage (cf. also vv. 19 and 23 below).

[8:15]  ³⁵ tn The verb is the Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to sin”) and means “to de-sin” the altar. This verse is important for confirming the main purpose of the sin offering, which was to decontaminate the tabernacle and its furniture from any impurities. See the note on Lev 4:3.

[8:15]  ³⁶ tn Similar to v. 10 above, “and consecrated it” refers to the effect of the blood manipulation earlier in the verse. The goal here was to consecrate the altar in order that it might become a place on which it would be appropriate “to make atonement” before the Lord.

[8:16]  ³⁷ tn Again, Aaron probably performed the slaughter and collected the fat parts (v. 16a), but Moses presented it all on the altar (v. 16b; cf. the note on v. 15 above).

[8:16]  ³⁸ sn See Lev 3:3-4 for the terminology of fat and kidneys here.

[8:16]  ³⁹ tn Heb “toward the altar” (see the note on Lev 1:9).

[8:17]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he burned with fire,” an expression which is sometimes redundant in English, but here means “burned up,” “burned up entirely.”

[8:17]  ⁴¹ sn See Lev 4:11-12, 21; 6:30 [23 HT].

[8:19]  ⁴² tn Aaron probably did the slaughtering (cf. the notes on Lev 8:15-16 above).

[8:20]  ⁴³ tn Again, Aaron probably cut the ram up into parts (v. 20a), but Moses presented them on the altar (v. 20b; cf. the note on v. 15 above).

[8:20]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “cut it into its parts.” One could translate here, “quartered it” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:133; cf. Lev 1:6, 12 above).

[8:21]  ⁴⁵ tn Again, Aaron probably did the washing (v. 21a), but Moses presented the portions on the altar (v. 21b; cf. the note on v. 15 above).

[8:21]  ⁴⁶ tn See Lev 1:9, 13.

[9:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Instead of “on behalf of the people,” the LXX has “on behalf of your house” as in the Hebrew text of Lev 16:6, 11, 17. Many commentaries follow the LXX here (e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:578; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 118) as do a few English versions (e.g., NAB), but others argue that, as on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16), the offerings of the priests also effected the people, even though there was still the need to have special offerings made on behalf of the people as reflected in the second half of the verse (e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 56).

[16:15]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and he shall bring its blood into from house to the veil-canopy.”