Levítico 16

BLIVRE · Chapter 16/27

1E falou o SENHOR a Moisés, depois que morreram os dois filhos de Arão, quando se chegaram diante do SENHOR, e morreram;

2E o SENHOR disse a Moisés: Dize a Arão teu irmão, que não em todo tempo entre no santuário do véu dentro, diante do propiciatório que está sobre a arca, para que não morra: porque eu aparecerei na nuvem sobre o propiciatório.

3Com isto entrará Arão no santuário: com um bezerro por expiação, e um carneiro em holocausto.

4A túnica santa de linho se vestirá, e sobre sua carne terá calções de linho, e se cingirá o cinto de linho; e com a mitra de linho se cobrirá: são as santas vestiduras: com elas, depois de lavar sua carne com água, se há de vestir.

5E da congregação dos filhos de Israel tomará dois machos de bode para expiação, e um carneiro para holocausto.

6E fará achegar Arão o bezerro da expiação, que é seu, e fará a reconciliação por si e por sua casa.

7Depois tomará os dois machos de bode, e os apresentará diante do SENHOR à porta do tabernáculo do testemunho.

8E lançará sortes Arão sobre os dois machos de bode; uma sorte pelo SENHOR, e a outra sorte por Azazel.

9E fará achegar Arão o bode macho sobre o qual cair a sorte pelo SENHOR, e o oferecerá em expiação.

10Mas o bode macho, sobre o qual cair a sorte por Azazel, o apresentará vivo diante do SENHOR, para fazer a reconciliação sobre ele, para enviá-lo a Azazel ao deserto.

11E fará chegar Arão o bezerro que era seu para expiação, e fará a reconciliação por si e por sua casa, e degolará em expiação o bezerro que é seu.

12Depois tomará o incensário cheio de brasas de fogo, do altar de diante do SENHOR, e seus punhos cheios do incenso aromático prensado, e o meterá do véu dentro:

13E porá o incenso sobre o fogo diante do SENHOR, e a nuvem do incenso cobrirá o propiciatório que está sobre o testemunho, e não morrerá.

14Tomará logo do sangue do bezerro, e espargirá com seu dedo até o propiciatório ao lado oriental: até o propiciatório espargirá sete vezes daquele sangue com seu dedo.

15Depois degolará em expiação o bode macho, que era do povo, e meterá o sangue dele do véu dentro; e fará de seu sangue como fez do sangue do bezerro, e espargirá sobre o propiciatório e diante do propiciatório:

16E limpará o santuário, das imundícias dos filhos de Israel, e de suas rebeliões, e de todos os seus pecados: da mesma maneira fará também ao tabernáculo do testemunho, o qual reside entre eles em meio de suas imundícias.

17E nenhum homem estará no tabernáculo do testemunho quando ele entrar a fazer a reconciliação no santuário, até que ele saia, e haja feito a reconciliação por si, e por sua casa, e por toda a congregação de Israel.

18E sairá ao altar que está diante do SENHOR, e o expiará; e tomará do sangue do bezerro, e do sangue do bode macho, e porá sobre as pontas do altar ao redor.

19E espargirá sobre ele do sangue com seu dedo sete vezes, e o limpará, e o santificará das imundícias dos filhos de Israel.

20E quando houver acabado de expiar o santuário, e o tabernáculo do testemunho, e o altar, fará chegar o bode macho vivo:

21E porá Arão ambas as mãos suas sobre a cabeça do bode macho vivo, e confessará sobre ele todas as iniquidades dos filhos de Israel, e todas suas rebeliões, e todos os seus pecados, pondo-os assim sobre a cabeça do bode macho, e o enviará ao deserto por meio de um homem destinado para isto.

22E aquele bode macho levará sobre si todas as iniquidades deles a terra inabitada: e deixará ir o bode macho pelo deserto.

23Depois virá Arão ao tabernáculo do testemunho, e se desnudará as vestimentas de linho, que havia vestido para entrar no santuário, e as porá ali.

24Lavará logo sua carne com água no lugar do santuário, e depois de se pôr suas roupas sairá, e fará seu holocausto, e o holocausto do povo, e fará a reconciliação por si e pelo povo.

25E queimará a gordura da expiação sobre o altar.

26E o que houver levado o bode macho a Azazel, lavará suas roupas, lavará também com água sua carne, e depois entrará no acampamento.

27E tirará fora do acampamento o bezerro do pecado, e o bode macho da culpa, o sangue dos quais foi metido para fazer a expiação no santuário; e queimarão no fogo suas peles, e suas carnes, e seu excremento.

28E o que os queimar, lavará suas roupas, lavará também sua carne com água, e depois entrará no acampamento.

29E isto tereis por estatuto perpétuo: No mês sétimo, aos dez do mês, afligireis vossas almas, e nenhuma obra fareis, nem o natural nem o estrangeiro que peregrina entre vós:

30Porque neste dia se vos reconciliará para limpar-vos; e sereis limpos de todos vossos pecados diante do SENHOR.

31Sábado de repouso é para vós, e afligireis vossas almas, por estatuto perpétuo.

32E fará a reconciliação o sacerdote que for ungido, e cuja mão houver sido cheia para ser sacerdote em lugar de seu pai; e se vestirá as vestimentas de linho, as vestiduras sagradas:

33E expiará o santuário santo, e o tabernáculo do testemunho; expiará também o altar, e aos sacerdotes, e a todo o povo da congregação.

34E isto tereis por estatuto perpétuo, para expiar aos filhos de Israel de todos os seus pecados uma vez no ano. E Moisés o fez como o SENHOR lhe mandou.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is instituted: once a year, the high priest enters the Most Holy Place with sacrificial blood, and a second goat (the 'scapegoat') symbolically carries the people's sins into the wilderness.

Explanation

This is one of the most theologically rich chapters in Leviticus. Only once a year could the high priest enter the most sacred space of the tabernacle, and even then only with extreme preparation, since a single mistake could cost his life. The scapegoat — sent alive into the wilderness bearing the confessed sins on its head — is one of the most vivid images in the whole Bible of sin being removed 'far away.' Together, the two goats (one sacrificed, one released) portrayed two dimensions of forgiveness: atonement (payment) and removal (distance). The New Testament sees in Christ the definitive fulfillment of this day, as the one mediator who enters God's presence permanently on our behalf (Hebrews 9).

Fun facts

  • The word 'scapegoat,' still used today for someone who bears the blame for others, comes directly from this chapter — the 'goat that departs' in Hebrew is azazel, a term of uncertain origin.
  • According to Jewish tradition recorded in the Mishnah, a bell was tied to the high priest's leg and a rope to his waist when he entered the Most Holy Place, so that he could be pulled out if he died inside, since no one else was allowed to enter to rescue him.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Levítico 16:1This verse places the scene in time: the instruction comes right after the tragedy of Nadab and Abihu, and that’s what explains the extremely careful, detailed tone of the entire chapter about how to enter the most sacred place.
  2. Levítico 16:2This warning comes right after the death of Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, who had entered the sanctuary without authorization (chapter 10). From here on, not even the high priest himself could cross the veil covering the ark whenever he wanted — only on one single day of the year, with a specific ritual, described next.
  3. Levítico 16:3Only with a young bull for the sin offering and a ram for the burnt offering could Aaron enter the sanctuary on this specific day — the minimum personal requirements for approaching the most sacred place.
  4. Levítico 16:4On this day Aaron wore simple linen garments, without the gold ornaments and precious stones of his usual high priest’s uniform — a deliberate detail of humility on the most solemn day of the calendar.
  5. Levítico 16:5From the congregation came two goats for the sin offering and a ram for the burnt offering — the people’s collective contribution to that one unique day’s rituals.
  6. Levítico 16:6Before dealing with anything on the people’s behalf, Aaron offered the bull for his own household — the same principle as always: the priest settled his own fault before representing others.
  7. Levítico 16:7The two goats were presented together before the Lord, at the door of the tent, before the lot that would decide each one’s fate.
  8. Levítico 16:8Two goats were chosen by lot: one would be sacrificed for the Lord, the other would be the “scapegoat” — whose exact meaning scholars still debate (it could be a desert place, a kind of desert spirit, or simply the goat that goes away). Together the two form a single purification ritual, not two separate sacrifices.
  9. Levítico 16:9The goat chosen “for the Lord” in the lottery was the one that actually died as the sin offering — the opposite of the live goat that would be sent away.
  10. Levítico 16:10Unlike the other goat, this one wasn’t killed. It stayed alive, waiting for the moment when Aaron would lay his hands on it and send it off, alone, into the wilderness, far from any inhabited place.
  11. Levítico 16:11Here Aaron finally carries out what he had announced earlier: he slaughters the bull for his own sin offering, the first concrete step of the day’s ritual.
  12. Levítico 16:12Aaron took a censer full of coals from the altar and a handful of ground incense, carrying it all inside the veil — the physical preparation for entering the innermost chamber of the sanctuary.
  13. Levítico 16:13The cloud of incense covered the mercy seat before he saw the ark directly — a kind of physical and visual shield, since approaching without that filter was treated as fatal.
  14. Levítico 16:14This was the one moment of the year when blood entered the innermost chamber of the sanctuary — the most sacred point of blood application in the entire book.
  15. Levítico 16:15The same blood ritual done with the bull’s blood was repeated with the blood of the people’s goat — the atonement for the people received the same maximum treatment given to the priest’s own atonement.
  16. Levítico 16:16That day’s atonement wasn’t only for the people: it was also for the sanctuary itself, as though the accumulated impurities of the people over the year had stained the sacred space. That’s why the ritual cleansed the place first, before any individual.
  17. Levítico 16:17No one else could be in the tent while Aaron carried out this ritual — he stayed completely alone, representing the whole congregation by himself in this most sacred moment of the year.
  18. Levítico 16:18After tending to the innermost chamber, Aaron went out to purify the outer altar too, with blood from the two animals on its horns — the ritual worked its way through the sacred space from the inside out.
  19. Levítico 16:19Sprinkling blood seven times on the altar was like a deep annual cleaning: even with sacrifices happening all year round, this day cleared away any residue of impurity that had built up.
  20. Levítico 16:20Only after purifying the entire sanctuary, the tent, and the altar did Aaron finally bring out the live goat — the order mattered: the space first, then the people.
  21. Levítico 16:21Aaron placed both hands on the head of the live goat and confessed aloud the sins of the whole people. It was a gesture of symbolic transfer: the guilt passed onto the animal, which was then led far away, never to return to the people again.
  22. Levítico 16:22This is where the expression still used today, “scapegoat,” comes from: the animal carried away, to a place with no people, the guilt that had been symbolically transferred onto it.
  23. Levítico 16:23After the innermost ritual, Aaron took off the simple linen garments and left them right there — they were worn only for this one specific moment of the year, not for the rest of the priestly service.
  24. Levítico 16:24He bathed again, put on the regular high priest’s garments, and only then went out to offer the burnt offerings for himself and for the people — completing the cycle of the day.
  25. Levítico 16:25The fat of the sin offering still had to be burned on the altar — the same technical step as always, closing this specific part of the ritual.
  26. Levítico 16:26Even the one who simply led the live goat into the wilderness had to wash his clothes and bathe before returning to the camp — handling the animal carrying the symbolic guilt required its own purification.
  27. Levítico 16:27The bull and the goat whose blood had entered the sanctuary were taken outside the camp and burned completely — the same rule seen before: blood that enters the most sacred place means the flesh is never eaten.
  28. Levítico 16:28Whoever burned these animals also had to wash his clothes and bathe before returning — one more step of purification in the chain, tied to this specific task.
  29. Levítico 16:29Fasting and other forms of self-denial were what the law calls afflicting the soul. This is the day that would later become known as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and it applied equally to those born in Israel and to the foreigner living among them.
  30. Levítico 16:30This is the summary of the whole day’s purpose: an atonement that covered all sins at once, the broadest reach of any ritual described in the book so far.
  31. Levítico 16:31Called a “sabbath of rest,” this was the one day on the calendar when the law explicitly commanded the people to fast — “afflict your souls” was the phrase used for this kind of self-denial.
  32. Levítico 16:32The rule made clear that this ritual wasn’t exclusive to Aaron: every future high priest, once anointed, would have to repeat the same process, with the same linen garments.
  33. Levítico 16:33This verse sums up everything the day covered: the most sacred chamber, the tent, the altar, the priests themselves, and the whole congregation — the most complete reach of any ceremony in the book.
  34. Levítico 16:34Unlike the day-to-day atonements described in earlier chapters, handled case by case, this ritual happened only once a year. It covered, in one sweep, the accumulated sins of the whole people — which is why it stood out as the most solemn day of the calendar.

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