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Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 16

1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons when they approached the presence of the Lord⁠ and died,⁠ 2 and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the special curtain in front of the atonement lid that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement lid. 3 “In this way Aaron is to enter into the sanctuary—with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.⁠ 4 He must put on a holy linen tunic, linen leggings are to cover his body, and he is to wrap himself with a linen sash and wrap his head with a linen turban.⁠ They are holy garments, so he must bathe his body in water and put them on.⁠ 5 He must also take two male goats from the congregation of the Israelites for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 Then Aaron is to present the sin-offering bull which is for himself and is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. 7 Next he must take the two goats and stand them before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, 8 and Aaron is to cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel.⁠ 9 Aaron must then present the goat which has been designated by lot for the Lord, and he is to make it a sin offering,⁠ 10 but the goat which has been designated by lot for Azazel is to be stood alive before the Lord to make atonement on it by sending it away into the desert to Azazel.⁠ 11 “Aaron is to present the sin-offering bull which is for himself, and he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. He is to slaughter the sin-offering bull which is for himself, 12 and take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and a full double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring them inside the curtain.⁠ 13 He must then put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of incense will cover the atonement lid which is above the ark of the testimony, so that he will not die. 14 Then he is to take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the eastern face of the atonement lid, and in front of the atonement lid he is to sprinkle some of the blood seven times with his finger. 15 “Aaron must then slaughter the sin-offering goat which is for the people. He is to bring its blood inside the curtain, and he is to do with its blood just as he did to the blood of the bull: He is to sprinkle it on the atonement lid and in front of the atonement lid. 16 So he is to make atonement for the Holy Place from the impurities of the Israelites and from their transgressions with regard to all their sins, and thus he is to do for the Meeting Tent which resides with them in the midst of their impurities. 17 Nobody is to be in the Meeting Tent when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he goes out, and he has made atonement on his behalf, on behalf of his household, and on behalf of the whole assembly of Israel. 18 “Then Aaron is to go out to the altar which is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it all around on the horns of the altar. 19 Then he is to sprinkle on it some of the blood with his finger seven times, and cleanse and consecrate it from the impurities of the Israelites. 20 “When Aaron has finished purifying the Holy Place, the Meeting Tent, and the altar, he is to present the live goat. 21 Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins, and thus he is to put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the desert by the hand of a man standing ready. 22 The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land,⁠ so he is to send the goat away into the desert.⁠ 23 “Aaron must then enter the Meeting Tent and take off the linen garments which he had put on when he entered the sanctuary, and leave them there. 24 Then he must bathe his body in water in the Holy Place, put on his clothes, and go out and make his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering. So he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and the people. 25 “Then he is to offer up the fat of the sin offering in smoke on the altar, 26 and the one who sent the goat away to Azazel must wash his clothes, bathe his body in water, and afterward he may reenter the camp. 27 The bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought to make atonement in the Holy Place, must be brought outside the camp and their hide, their flesh, and their dung must be burned up, 28 and the one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may reenter the camp. 29 “This is to be a perpetual statute for you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves and do no work of any kind, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner who lives in your midst,⁠ 30 for on this day atonement is to be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins; you must be clean before the Lord. 31 It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you,⁠ and you must humble yourselves. It is a perpetual statute. 32 “The priest who is anointed and ordained to act as high priest in place of his father is to make atonement. He is to put on the linen garments, the holy garments, 33 and he is to purify the Most Holy Place, he is to purify the Meeting Tent and the altar, and he is to make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 This is to be a perpetual statute for you to make atonement for the Israelites for all their sins once a year.” So he did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 16:4 and Ezekiel 44:18

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Leviticus describes the high priest putting on special linen garments before entering the sanctuary on the Day of Atonement. Ezekiel refers to priests wearing linen garments when serving in the temple, showing continuity with this priestly tradition.

Passages

Leviticus 16:4

Hebrew Bible
2 and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the special curtain in front of the atonement lid that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement lid. 3 “In this way Aaron is to enter into the sanctuary—with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He must put on a holy linen tunic, linen leggings are to cover his body, and he is to wrap himself with a linen sash and wrap his head with a linen turban. They are holy garments, so he must bathe his body in water and put them on. 5 He must also take two male goats from the congregation of the Israelites for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 Then Aaron is to present the sin-offering bull which is for himself and is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Ezekiel 44:18

Hebrew Bible
16 They will enter my sanctuary and approach my table to minister to me; they will keep my charge. 17 “‘When they enter the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen garments; they must not have any wool on them when they minister in the inner gates of the court and in the temple. 18 Linen turbans will be on their heads and linen undergarments will be around their waists; they must not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 “‘They must not shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they must only trim their heads.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

"... This word occurs with reference to priestly or cultic garments. It appears, for example, in conjunction with the terms ‘ephod’ (1 Samuel 2:18; 22:18; 2 Samuel 6:14; 1 Chronicles 15:27) as well as a garment (Leviticus 16:4). Parallels in the Dead Sea Scrolls use the term in a similar manner (e.g., IQM 8:10). The Hebrew also occurs in Ezekiel and Daniel with reference to the garments of angelic messengers (Ezekiel 9:2–3, 11; 10:2, 6-7; Daniel 10:5; 12:6–7). This word has no Semitic cognates and no clear Semitic etymology, suggesting a loan from a foreign source. Grintz (1975, 14—15) postulates that Hebrew comes from an Egyptian word found in the Second Intermediate Period ... denotes a linen fabric utilized for a splint. This same word also seems to occur in the plural form with reference to linens in the Coffin Texts - the Egyptian merged via palatal fronting, and Egyptian commonly elided in final position. This would produce a suitable donor term for the Hebrew. In light of the putative Egyptian context of the tabernacle, an Egyptian origin remains the best explanation for the Hebrew ..."
Benjamin J. Noonan, Non-Semitic Loanwords in the Hebrew Bible: A Lexicon of Language Contact (University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, 2019), 73.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 16:4 and Ezekiel 44:18

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