Guilt Offerings

7 “These are the rules for the guilt offering. It is very holy. ²A priest must kill the guilt offering in the same place where they kill the burnt offerings. Then the priest must sprinkle the blood from the guilt offering around the altar.* ³“The priest must offer all the fat from the guilt offering. He must offer the fat tail and the fat that covers the inside parts. ⁴The priest must offer the two kidneys and the fat covering them at the lower back muscle. He must also offer the fat part of the liver. He must remove it with the kidneys. ⁵The priest must burn all those things on the altar.* This will be an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a guilt offering. ⁶“Any male in a priest’s family may eat the guilt offering. It is very holy, so it must be eaten in a holy place. ⁷The guilt offering is like the sin offering. The same rules are for both offerings. The priest that does the sacrificing will get the meat for food. ⁸The priest that does the sacrificing can also have the skin* from the burnt offering. ⁹Every grain offering belongs to the priest that offers it. That priest will get the grain offerings that were baked in an oven, or cooked on a frying pan or a baking dish. ¹⁰The grain offerings will belong to Aaron’s sons. It does not make any difference if they are dry or mixed with oil. The sons of Aaron (priests) will all share this food.

Fellowship Offerings

¹¹“This is the law of the sacrifice* of fellowship offerings that a person offers to the Lord: ¹²The person may bring the fellowship offering to show his thanks. If he brings his sacrifice to give thanks, he should {also} bring unleavened bread* mixed with oil, wafers* with oil poured over them, and loaves of fine flour mixed with oil. ¹³The fellowship offering is the offering that a person brings to show thanks to God. With that offering the person must bring another offering with loaves of bread made with yeast. ¹⁴One of these loaves of bread will belong to the priest that sprinkles the blood of the fellowship offerings. ¹⁵The meat of the fellowship offering must be eaten on the same day it is offered. A person offers this gift as a way of showing thanks to God. But none of the meat should remain the next morning. ¹⁶“A person might bring a fellowship offering just because he wants to give a gift to God. Or maybe a person made a special promise to God. If this is true, then the sacrifice* must be eaten the same day he offers it. If there is any left, then it must be eaten that next day. ¹⁷But if any meat from this sacrifice is still left over on the third day, it must be burned in the fire. ¹⁸If a person eats any of the meat from his fellowship offering on the third day, then the Lord will not be happy with that person. The Lord will not count the sacrifice for him. The sacrifice will become unclean.* And if a person eats any of that meat, then that person will be responsible for his own sin. ¹⁹“Also, people must not eat the meat that touches anything that is unclean.* They must burn this meat in the fire. Every person who is clean* may eat the meat {from the fellowship offering}. ²⁰But if a person is unclean and eats the meat from the fellowship offerings that belongs to the Lord, then that person must be separated from his people. ²¹“A person might touch something that is unclean.* That thing may have been made unclean by people, by an unclean animal, or by any unclean hated thing. {That person will become unclean, and} if he eats any of the meat from the fellowship offerings that belong to the Lord, then that person must be separated from his people.” ²²The Lord said to Moses, ²³“Tell the people of Israel: You must not eat any fat from cows, sheep, or goats. ²⁴You may use the fat from any animal that has died by itself, or was torn by {other} animals. But you must never eat it. ²⁵If any person eats the fat from an animal that was offered by fire to the Lord, then that person must be separated from his people. ²⁶“No matter where you live, you must never eat blood from any bird or any animal. ²⁷If a person eats any blood, then that person must be separated from his people.”

Rules for the Wave Offering

²⁸The Lord said to Moses, ²⁹“Tell the people of Israel: If a person brings a fellowship offering to the Lord, then that person must give a part of that gift to the Lord. ³⁰That part of the gift will be burnt in the fire. He must carry that part of the gift in his own hands. He must bring the fat and the breast {of the animal to the priest}. The breast will be lifted up in front of the Lord. This will be the wave offering. ³¹Then the priest must burn the fat on the altar.* But the breast {of the animal} will belong to Aaron and his sons. ³²You must also give the right thigh from the fellowship offering to the priest. ³³The right thigh from the fellowship offerings will belong to the priest* that offers the blood and fat of the fellowship offering. ³⁴I (the Lord) am taking the breast of the wave offerings and the right thigh of the fellowship offerings from the people of Israel. And I am giving those things to Aaron and his sons. The people of Israel must obey this rule forever.” ³⁵Those are the parts from the offerings made by fire to the Lord that were given to Aaron and his sons. Whenever Aaron and his sons serve as the Lord’s priests, they get that share of the sacrifices. ³⁶At the time the Lord chose the priests, he commanded the people of Israel to give those parts to the priests. The people must give that share to the priests forever. ³⁷Those are the laws about burnt offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, fellowship offerings, and about the choosing of priests. ³⁸The Lord gave those laws to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Lord gave those laws on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the Lord in the Sinai desert.

altar A table or raised area used for offering sacrifices. skin This was used for making leather. sacrifice A gift to God. Usually, it was a special animal that was killed and burned on an altar. unleavened bread Bread made without yeast. wafers A thin bread, like crackers, made without yeast. sacrifice A gift to God. Usually, it was a special animal that was killed and burned on an altar. sacrifice … unclean Or, “offensive, bad, rotten.” This means the meat is not good to eat as part of a sacrifice. unclean Not pure or not acceptable to God for worship. clean Pure or acceptable to God for worship. the priest Literally, “him of the sons of Aaron.”

Moses Makes the Priests Ready

8 The Lord said to Moses, ²“Take Aaron and his sons with him and the clothes, the anointing oil,* the bull of the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread.* ³Then bring the people together at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.*” ⁴Moses did what the Lord commanded him. The people met together at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. ⁵Then Moses said to the people, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded must be done.” ⁶Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons. He washed them with water. ⁷Then Moses put the woven shirt on Aaron and tied the sash (belt) around him. Then Moses put the robe on Aaron. Moses next put the Ephod* on Aaron. Then Moses tied the beautiful sash (belt) on Aaron. In that way, Moses put the Ephod on Aaron. ⁸Moses put the Judgment Pouch* on Aaron. Then he put the Urim and Thummim* in {the pocket of} the Judgment Pouch. ⁹Moses also put the turban* on Aaron’s head. Moses put the strip of gold on the front of the turban. This strip of gold is the holy crown. {Moses did} this just like the Lord had commanded. ¹⁰Then Moses took the anointing oil* and sprinkled it on the Holy Tent* and on all the things in it. In this way, Moses made them holy.* ¹¹Moses sprinkled some of the anointing oil on the altar* seven times. Moses sprinkled the oil on the altar and on all its tools and dishes. Moses also sprinkled the oil on the bowl and its base. In this way, Moses made them holy. ¹²Then Moses poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head. In this way, he made Aaron holy. ¹³Then Moses brought Aaron’s sons and put the woven shirts on them. He tied sashes (belts) on them. Then he wrapped headbands on their heads. {Moses did these things} just like the Lord had commanded. ¹⁴Then Moses brought the bull of the sin offering. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. ¹⁵Then Moses killed the bull and collected its blood. Moses used his finger and put some of the blood on all the corners of the altar.* In this way, Moses made the altar ready for sacrifices. Then Moses poured out the blood at the base of the altar. In this way, Moses made the altar ready for sacrifices to make the people pure.* ¹⁶Moses took all the fat from the inside parts {of the bull}. Moses took the fat part of the liver with the two kidneys and the fat on them. Then he burned them on the altar. ¹⁷But Moses {took} the bull’s skin, its meat, and its body waste outside the camp. Moses burned those things in a fire outside the camp. Moses did those things like the Lord commanded him. ¹⁸Then Moses brought the ram of the burnt offering. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the ram’s head. ¹⁹Then Moses killed the ram. He sprinkled the blood around on the altar.* ^20–21Moses cut the ram into pieces. Moses washed the inside parts and legs with water. Then Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. Moses burned the head, the pieces, and the fat. It was a burnt offering made by fire. Its smell pleased the Lord. Moses did those things like the Lord commanded. ²²Then Moses brought the other ram. This ram was used for appointing Aaron and his sons to become priests. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the ram’s head. ²³Then Moses killed the ram. He put some of its blood on the tip of Aaron’s ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of Aaron’s right foot. ²⁴Then Moses brought Aaron’s sons close {to the altar}. Moses put some of the blood on the tip of their right ears, on the thumb of their right hands, and on the big toe of their right feet. Then Moses sprinkled the blood around on the altar.* ²⁵Moses took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat on the inside parts, the fat covering of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh. ²⁶A basket of unleavened bread* is put before the Lord each day. Moses took one of those loaves of bread, and one loaf of bread mixed with oil, and one unleavened wafer.* Moses put those pieces of bread on the fat and on the right thigh of the ram. ²⁷Then Moses put all {those things} in the hands of Aaron and his sons. Moses waved the pieces as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁸Then Moses took these things from the hands of Aaron and his sons. Moses burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering. So that was the offering for appointing Aaron and his sons as priests. It was an offering made by fire. Its smell pleased the Lord. ²⁹Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering in front of the Lord. It was Moses’ share of the ram for appointing the priests. This was like the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁰Moses took some of the anointing oil* and some of the blood that was on the altar.* Moses sprinkled some on Aaron and on Aaron’s clothes. Moses sprinkled some on Aaron’s sons that were with Aaron and on their clothes. In this way, Moses made Aaron, his clothes, his sons, and his sons’ clothes holy.* ³¹Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “{Do you remember my command?} I said, ‘Aaron and his sons must eat these things.’ So take the basket of bread and meat from the ceremony for choosing the priests. Boil that meat at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.* Eat the meat and bread at that place. Do this like I told you. ³²If any of the meat or bread is left, then burn it. ³³The ceremony for choosing the priests will last for seven days. You must not leave the entrance of the Meeting Tent until that time is finished. ³⁴The Lord has commanded to do the things that were done today. He commanded these things to make you pure.* ³⁵You must stay at the entrance of the Meeting Tent day and night for seven days. If you don’t obey the Lord’s commands, then you will die! The Lord gave me those commands.” 36So Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord had commanded Moses.

anointing oil Olive oil that was poured on things or people to show that they were chosen for a special work or purpose. unleavened bread Bread made without yeast. Meeting Tent The Holy Tent (tabernacle) where the people of Israel came to meet with God. Ephod A special coat worn by the high priest. Judgment Pouch A piece of clothing like a bib or an apron that covered the high priest’s chest. Urim and Thummim Used by the priest to learn God’s answer to questions. They were probably like lots—stones, sticks, or bones that were thrown like dice to make decisions. turban Head covering made by wrapping a long piece of cloth around the head or around a cap worn on the head. Holy Tent Or, “tabernacle.” The place God came to live among his people. holy Set aside or chosen for a special purpose. altar A table or raised area used for offering sacrifices. make … pure Or, “make atonement.” The Hebrew word means “to cover,” “to hide,” or “to erase sins.” wafer A thin bread, like crackers, made without yeast.