Good news, no skin diseases or bodily fluids in the reading today. These are the instructions for Aaron (and other high priests that come after him) to enter the veil of separation and sprinkle the blood of atonement on the Mercy Seat.
Leviticus 16
The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near to the LORD, and died;
2 And the LORD said to Moses “Speak to Aaron your brother, that he does not come at just any time into the Holy Place within the veil before the mercy seat, on which is the ark, so that he does not die: for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
3 This is how Aaron must come into the Holy Place: with a young bull 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 undergarments on his body, and shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wrap the linen turban around his head. These are holy garments; he must wash his body with water then put them on.
5 He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kid goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 Aaron shall offer his bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself, and for his house.
7 Then he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tent of meeting.
8 Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD’s lot falls and offer him for a sin offering.
10 But the goat on which the lot falls to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement with him, then let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
11 Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bull 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 finely ground sweet incense, and bring it all inside the veil.
13 He shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he does not die.
14 And he shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side mercy seat; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
15 Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.
16 He shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: he shall do so for the tent of meeting, that remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
17 No one may be in the tent of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.
18 He shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD, and make atonement for it; and shall take some of the blood of the bull, and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. .
19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and sanctify it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
20 And when he has finished reconciling the Holy Place, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on 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 on the head of the goat, and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands ready.
22 And the goat shall carry all their iniquities to an uninhabited land: and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.
23 Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting, and shall take off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and leave them there.
24 He shall bathe his body with water in the Holy Place, and put on his his clothes, and come out and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself, and for the people.
25 The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.
26 And he that let the scapegoat go shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and afterward come into the camp.
27 The bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.
28 He that burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
29 And this shall be a statute for ever to you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall fast, and do no work at all, those of your own country and the traveler among you.
30 For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
31 It shall be a sabbath of rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves by a statute for ever.
32 The priest, the one he anoints, the one consecrated to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s place, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, the holy garments.
33 And he shall make atonement for the Most Holy Place, and he shall make an atonement for the tent of meeting, the altar, the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.
34 This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year.” And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
See also: Leviticus 16 in ESV, HCSB, NASB and NIV via Bible Gateway.
