Exodus - The Old Testament

¹ 'This is what you will do to them, to consecrate them to my priesthood. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish;

² also unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, made from fine wheat flour,

³ and put these into a basket and present them in the basket, at the same time as the bull and the two rams.

⁴ 'You will bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and bathe them.

⁵ You will then take the vestments and dress Aaron in the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and tie the waistband of the ephod round his waist.

⁶ Then you will place the turban on his head, and on it put the symbol of holy consecration.

⁷ You will then take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and so anoint him.

⁸ 'Next, you will bring his sons and dress them in tunics,

⁹ and fasten waistbands round their waists and put the head-dresses on their heads. By perpetual decree the priesthood will be theirs. Then you will invest Aaron and his sons.

¹⁰ 'You will bring the bull in front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the bull's head.

¹¹ You will then slaughter the bull before Yahweh at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹² You will then take some of the bull's blood and with your finger put it on the horns of the altar. Next, pour out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar.

¹³ And then take all the fat covering the entrails, the fatty mass over the liver, the two kidneys with their covering fat, and burn them on the altar.

¹⁴ But the young bull's flesh, its skin and its offal, you will burn outside the camp, for this is a sin offering.

¹⁵ 'Next, you will take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the ram's head.

¹⁶ You will then slaughter the ram, take its blood and pour it against the altar, all round.

¹⁷ Next, cut the ram into quarters, wash the entrails and legs and put them on the quarters and head.

¹⁸ Then burn the whole ram on the altar. This will be a burnt offering for Yahweh, a pleasing smell, a food offering burnt for Yahweh.

¹⁹ 'Next, you will take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the ram's head.

²⁰ You will then slaughter the ram, take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear, on the lobes of his sons' right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet, and pour the rest of the blood against the altar, all round.

²¹ You will then take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his vestments and on his sons and on his sons' vestments: so that he and his vestments will be consecrated and his sons too, and his sons' vestments.

²² 'You will then take the fatty parts of the ram: the tail, the fat covering the entrails, the fatty mass over the liver, the two kidneys with their covering fat and also the right thigh -- for this is a ram of investiture-

²³ and a loaf of bread, a cake of bread made with oil, and a wafer, from the basket of unleavened bread before Yahweh,

²⁴ and put it all on the palms of Aaron and his sons, and make the gesture of offering before Yahweh.

²⁵ Then you will take them back and burn them on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, as a smell pleasing before Yahweh, a food offering burnt for Yahweh.

²⁶ 'You will then take the forequarters of the ram of Aaron's investiture and with it make the gesture of offering before Yahweh; this will be your portion.

²⁷ You will consecrate the forequarters that have been thus offered, as also the thigh that is set aside -- what has been offered and what has been set aside from the ram of investiture of Aaron and his sons.

²⁸ This, by perpetual decree, will be the portion that Aaron and his sons will receive from the Israelites, since it is the portion set aside, the portion set aside for Yahweh by the Israelites from their communion sacrifices: a portion set aside for Yahweh.

²⁹ 'Aaron's sacred vestments must pass to his sons after him, and they will wear them for their anointing and investiture.

³⁰ Whichever of the sons of Aaron succeeds him in the priesthood and enters the Tent of Meeting to serve in the sanctuary, will wear them for seven days.

³¹ 'You will take the ram of investiture and cook its meat in a holy place.

³² Aaron and his sons will eat the meat of the ram and the bread which is in the basket, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

³³ They will eat what was used in making expiation for them at their investiture and consecration. No unauthorised person may eat these; they are holy things.

³⁴ If any of the meat from the investiture sacrifice, or the bread, should be left till morning, you will burn what is left. It may not be eaten; it is a holy thing.

³⁵ This is what you will do for Aaron and his sons, implementing all the orders I have given you. You will take seven days over their investiture.

³⁶ 'On each of the days you will also offer a young bull as a sacrifice for sin, in expiation. You will offer a sin sacrifice for the altar when you make expiation for it; then you will consecrate it by anointing it.

³⁷ For seven days you will make expiation for the altar, then you will consecrate it; it will then be especially holy, and whatever touches the altar will become holy.

³⁸ 'This is what you must offer on the altar: two yearling male lambs each day in perpetuity.

³⁹ The first lamb you will offer at dawn, and the second at twilight,

⁴⁰ and with the first lamb, one-tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with one-quarter of a hin of pounded olive oil and, for a libation, one-quarter of a hin of wine.

⁴¹ The second lamb you will offer at twilight, and do it with a similar cereal offering and libation as at dawn, as a pleasing smell, as an offering burnt for Yahweh,

⁴² a perpetual burnt offering for all your generations to come, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, where I shall meet you and speak to you.

⁴³ 'There I shall meet the Israelites in the place consecrated by my glory.

⁴⁴ I shall consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar; I shall also consecrate Aaron and his sons, to be priests in my service.

⁴⁵ And I shall live with the Israelites and be their God,

⁴⁶ and they will know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of Egypt to live among them: I, Yahweh their God.'