Leviticus 9

Chapter 9

The priests begin their work

1On the eighth day, Moses told Aaron and his sons and the leaders of Israel that they must come. #9:1 Aaron was now the leader of the priests. 2He said to Aaron, ‘Bring a young bull for your sin offering. And bring a male sheep for your burnt offering. They must be perfect to give to the Lord.’ 3Moses said to Aaron, ‘Tell Israel's people that they must bring a male goat for a sin offering. And they must bring a young cow and a young sheep. The young cow and the young sheep must be one year old. They must be perfect to burn as an offering. 4Tell Israel's people that they must bring a bull and a male sheep. They must bring them to sacrifice as a friendship offering to the Lord. They will sacrifice them. They must mix grain and oil to offer with them. They must do that because the Lord will appear to them today.’

5The people brought all the animals and the grain to the door of the Tent of Meeting. Moses and all the people came. And they stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting to worship the Lord. 6Moses said to the people, ‘The Lord has told you that you must do this. Do it. And then the Lord will show you how great he is.’

7Moses said to Aaron, ‘Go to the altar. Sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering to the Lord. You must do that to pay for your sins and those of the people. Then sacrifice the people's gift. Their offerings are an atonement for the bad things that they have done. The Lord said that you should do this.’

8Aaron brought the young bull to the altar. He killed it. This was his offering to the Lord to atone for his sin. 9His sons brought the blood to Aaron. He put his finger in the blood and he put it on the horns of the altar. He poured the blood that he did not use onto the floor in front of the altar. 10Aaron burnt the fat, the kidneys and the best piece of the liver on the altar as a sin offering. He did it as the Lord had told Moses. 11He took the meat and the skin from the young bull outside the camp and he burnt it.

12Aaron brought the male sheep for the burnt offering to the altar. He killed it. His sons brought the blood to him. He threw the blood onto the sides of the altar. 13The priests gave the pieces of the animal, including the head, to Aaron. Aaron burnt them on the altar. 14He washed the inside parts and the legs. He burnt them on the altar on top of the burnt offering.

15Aaron brought the goat. This was the people's sacrifice to God. Aaron killed it and he burnt it on the altar. It was an offering to atone for the people's sin. He offered this sacrifice in the same way as the first sacrifice for sin.

16Aaron brought the other young cow. He killed it and he burnt it on the altar. He did it as Moses had told him. 17He also brought the grain offering. He took some of it and he burnt it on the altar. He burnt it with the morning sacrifice.

18Aaron killed the bull and the male sheep. These were friendship offerings from the people. The priests brought the blood to him. He threw it onto the sides of the altar. 19Aaron took the fat tail, the fat and the kidneys and the best piece of the liver. 20He put them on the meat of the animal's ribs. Then he burnt the fat on the altar. 21Aaron lifted up the meat as an offering to the Lord. Moses had told him that he must do this.

22When Aaron had finished burning the gifts, he lifted up his hands over the people. He had sacrificed the sin offering, the burnt offering and the friendship offering. Then he asked God to do good things for the people. And Aaron came down from the altar.

23Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they asked God to do good things for the people. The bright light from the Lord appeared to the people to show how great he is. 24Then the Lord sent a fire to show that he accepted the gifts. #9:24 Any gift that the people gave to the Lord must be pure. This was very important. The people had to see that the Lord was holy. Nothing that was not good or pure could come near him. It completely burnt all the fat and the offerings that were on the altar. The people were very happy when they saw this. They shouted and they fell down with their faces to the ground.