Old Testament · Law

Leviticus 16

The Day of Atonement

Once a year, one man enters the holiest place on earth. Two goats — one sacrificed, one sent away carrying the sins of a nation into the wilderness.

Berean Standard Bible BSB KJV

1Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the LORD.

2And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

3This is how Aaron is to enter the Holy Place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

4He is to wear the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments. He must tie a linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are holy garments, and he must bathe himself with water before he wears them.

5And he shall take from the congregation of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

6Aaron is to present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.

7Then he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

8After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat,

9he shall present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering.

10But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement by sending it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

11When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.

12Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil.

13He is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the cloud of incense will cover the mercy seat above the Testimony, so that he will not die.

14And he is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the mercy seat.

15Aaron shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the veil, and with its blood he must do as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.

16So he shall make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the impurities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting which abides among them in the midst of their impurities.

17No one may be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he leaves, after he has made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel.

18Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar.

19He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

20When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he is to bring forward the live goat.

21Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.

22The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.

23Then Aaron is to enter the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen garments he put on before entering the Most Holy Place, and leave them there.

24He is to bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his own clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering to make atonement for himself and for the people.

25He is also to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

26The man who released the goat as the scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

27The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; and their hides, flesh, and dung must be burned up.

28The one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.

29This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—

30because on this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

31It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.

32The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest shall make atonement. He will put on the sacred linen garments

33and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the assembly.

34This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement once a year for the Israelites because of all their sins.”

Understand This

Leviticus 16, explained

What Leviticus 16 is saying

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is established as the annual ritual for comprehensive purification. The high priest enters the Most Holy Place—the only day this is permitted—with incense cloud and blood. Two goats are selected: one sacrificed as a sin offering, its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat, and one designated for Azazel, symbolically bearing the people's sins into the wilderness. The sanctuary, altar, and people are all cleansed.

The background behind it

Yom Kippur addresses accumulated impurity that individual sacrifices haven't resolved, functioning as an annual 'reset' of the sanctuary. The identity of Azazel remains debated—a place name, a demon, or an abstract concept of removal. The ritual's two-goat structure (one killed, one sent away) addresses both the payment and removal of sin.

Themes running underneath

The dual goat ritual provides the most complete picture of atonement in the Old Testament: sin requires both substitutionary death (the slaughtered goat) and permanent removal (the scapegoat). The high priest's sole entry into God's direct presence emphasizes that mediation between a holy God and sinful humanity is costly, limited, and utterly necessary. Hebrews 9–10 identifies this as the type fulfilled in Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.

Why it still matters

Yom Kippur teaches that sin's pollution accumulates and requires comprehensive, not merely piecemeal, treatment. The scapegoat's journey into the wilderness embodies the promise that confessed sin is not merely forgiven but removed—carried away beyond retrieval.

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Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.