Leviticus Chapter 16

At a Glance

  • Leviticus 16 centers on the annual Day of Atonement, a defining moment for Israel’s relationship with a holy God.
  • Narratively, the chapter moves from corporate confession and substitutionary atonement to the intimate, priestly mediation required to secure communal purity.
  • Leviticus is part of the Pentateuch, traditionally attributed to Moses, though composed and edited over time as Israel’s priestly tradition took shape.
  • Literarily, Leviticus sits between the laws that govern everyday moral and civil life (chapters 18–20, etc.) and the broader temple/ritual framework that continues throughout the book.
  • - Holiness and access: The chapter underscores the seriousness of approaching a holy God and the need for ritual purity and mediated access through the high priest.

Leviticus 16 centers on the annual Day of Atonement, a defining moment for Israel’s relationship with a holy God. The chapter opens with a sober reminder after the crisis of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, who died when they approached the Lord incorrectly. This sets the tone: worship is serious, and access to the divine throne requires preparation, reverence, and precise ritual. The chapter then walks through the detailed procedures Aaron must follow to atone for himself, his household, and the people.

Key actions unfold: Aaron must bathe, wear specially prescribed holy garments, and bring offerings—the bull for a sin offering for himself and his house, and two goats for the people’s sin offering and the scapegoat. The casting of lots determines which goat will be offered to the Lord and which will bear the people’s sins as the scapegoat. The bull is sacrificed for Aaron’s atonement; incense is burned to create a cloud to shield the high priest from the divine presence, and the blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat and upon the altar to make atonement. The ritual continues with the goat chosen for the Lord being offered as a sin offering, while the other goat—the scapegoat—receives Aaron’s symbolic confession and is sent into the wilderness, bearing away the sins of the people. The concluding portions emphasize cleansing and sanctification: the people are declared clean, the sanctuary is purged, and the ceremonial year begins anew with renewed holiness.

Narratively, the chapter moves from corporate confession and substitutionary atonement to the intimate, priestly mediation required to secure communal purity. Theologically, it foregrounds the seriousness of sin, the necessity of blood-sacrifice, and the gracious provision of atonement through a mediator who stands between a holy God and a guilty people. The structure is highly ritual and precise, yet its aim is profoundly pastoral: restoring right relationship with God and enabling the community to dwell with God in holiness.

Leviticus is part of the Pentateuch, traditionally attributed to Moses, though composed and edited over time as Israel’s priestly tradition took shape. Leviticus 16 belongs to the priestly (P) source, which emphasizes ritual law, purity, temple-centered worship, and the functioning of the Levitical system. Written in the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age, the content reflects a people poised at Sinai and then in the wilderness, learning to worship a holy God in a structurally organized way.

Literarily, Leviticus sits between the laws that govern everyday moral and civil life (chapters 18–20, etc.) and the broader temple/ritual framework that continues throughout the book. Chapter 16 functions as a pivot: it translates the nation’s concept of holiness into a yearly, concrete, trans-temporal practice. The Day of Atonement is not merely a ritual; it is a theological center that shapes Israel’s identity—sin confessed, sins borne by the covenant mediator, and the people empowered to live as God’s treasured possession.

- Holiness and access: The chapter underscores the seriousness of approaching a holy God and the need for ritual purity and mediated access through the high priest.

- Atonement and substitution: The two goats stand for atonement and scapegoating—the blood ritual covers sin, while the scapegoat bears sins away, symbolizing removal and reconciliation.

- Mediators and divine presence: Aaron’s role as mediator highlights the divine choosing of a representative to bring the people near, then God’s own presence in the cloud above the mercy seat.

- Purification of space and people: The cleansing of the sanctuary, altar, and people expresses the theology that sin disrupts communal dwelling with God and requires thorough purification.

- Blood-sacrificial economy: The chapter anchors the life-and-death seriousness of sin in the blood, making atonement possible only through prescribed sacrifices.

Day of Atonement imagery invites contemporary readers to reflect on forgiveness, confession, and the integrity of worship. While modern faith communities may not replicate the sacrificial system, Leviticus 16 speaks to the need for honest communal accountability—confession that names sin, collective pursuit of restoration, and the longing for divine merciful presence. The scapegoat motif invites reflection on bearing burdens—how communities and individuals carry away guilt and seek transformation rather than scapegoating others. The chapter also challenges us to consider purity of worship: when we approach God, are we prepared with integrity, humility, and dependence on God’s grace? The mediation theme can be pressed into modern spiritual practice through Jesus as the greater mediator, who fulfills and transcends this rite, offering direct access to the Father. Practically, believers can adopt rhythms of self-examination, repentance, and communal reconciliation that echo the atonement process, while recognizing that Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice redefines the old ritual in a new covenant.

- Exodus 28–29 (priests, garments, and atonement imagery)

- Hebrews 9–10 (Christ as the ultimate High Priest and mediator)

- Leviticus 17 (blood and atonement principles)

- Leviticus 23 (the Day of Atonement’s ongoing yearly observance)

- Leviticus 4–5 (sin offerings for individuals and households)

- Jesus (as the fulfillment of the high priestly role and the ultimate atonement)

- Aaron (as mediator and priestly leader in educating and guiding worship)

- Paul (theology of reconciliation and access to God through Christ)

- David (themes of repentance and longing for cleansed hearts)

- Moses (leadership, obedience, and governing worship)

Key Themes

Holiness and access: The chapter underscores the seriousness of approaching a holy God and the need for ritual purity and mediated access through the high priest.Atonement and substitution: The two goats stand for atonement and scapegoating—the blood ritual covers sin, while the scapegoat bears sins away, symbolizing removal and reconciliation.Mediators and divine presence: Aaron’s role as mediator highlights the divine choosing of a representative to bring the people near, then God’s own presence in the cloud above the mercy seat.Purification of space and people: The cleansing of the sanctuary, altar, and people expresses the theology that sin disrupts communal dwelling with God and requires thorough purification.

Chapter Text

1

And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;

2

And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

3

Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.

4

He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.

5

And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

6

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.

7

And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

8

And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

9

And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.

10

But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

11

And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:

12

And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:

13

And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:

14

And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.

15

Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:

16

And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

17

And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

18

And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.

19

And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

20

And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:

21

And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

22

And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

23

And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there:

24

And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people.

25

And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar.

26

And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.

27

And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.

28

And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

29

And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:

30

For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

31

It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.

32

And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments:

33

And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.

34

And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

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