Exodus 29

Consecrating Aaron and His Sons

1“And this is what you will do to them to consecrate them, so that they may serve as priests to me: take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You will make them of fine wheat flour. 3You will put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams. 4You will bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 5Then you will take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastpiece, and bind the ephod upon him with its woven band. 6You will set the turban on his head and put the holy crown upon the turban. 7You will take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him. 8Then you will bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. 9You will gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind head coverings on them. The priesthood will be theirs by a perpetual statute. Thus you will fill the hands of Aaron and his sons.

The Bull for the Sin Offering

10“You will bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11You will slaughter the bull before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 12You will take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 13You will take all the fat that covers the entrails, the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14But the flesh of the bull, its skin, and its dung you will burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.

The First Ram

15“Then you will take one ram, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the ram. 16You will slaughter the ram, take its blood, and throw it against the altar on all sides. 17You will cut the ram into its pieces, wash its entrails and legs, and put them with its pieces and its head. 18You will burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.

The Ram of Ordination

19“Then you will take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20You will slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the lobes of his sons’ right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then throw the rest of the blood against the altar on all sides. 21You will take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and the garments of his sons with him. Then he and his garments will be holy, and his sons and their garments with him.

The Portion Placed in Their Hands

22“You will take from the ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the appendage of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh, for it is a ram of ordination, 23and one loaf of bread, one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD. 24You will put all these in the palms of Aaron and in the palms of his sons, and wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. 25Then you will take them from their hands and burn them on the altar with the burnt offering as a pleasing aroma before the LORD. It is an offering by fire to the LORD. 26You will take the breast from the ram of Aaron’s ordination and wave it as a wave offering before the LORD, and it will be your portion. 27You will consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution that was waved and lifted up from the ram of ordination, from what belongs to Aaron and his sons. 28It will belong to Aaron and his sons as a perpetual portion from the children of Israel, for it is a contribution. It will be a contribution from the children of Israel from their offerings of well-being, their contribution to the LORD.

The Priestly Garments Continue through the Generations

29“The holy garments of Aaron will belong to his sons after him, to be anointed in them and to have their hands filled in them. 30Seven days the son who becomes priest in his place will wear them when he enters the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place.

Eating the Ram of Ordination

31“You will take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. 32Aaron and his sons will eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 33They will eat those things by which atonement was made to fill their hands and consecrate them, but an outsider will not eat them, because they are holy. 34If any of the flesh of the ordination offering or any of the bread remains until morning, you will burn the remainder with fire. It will not be eaten, because it is holy.

Seven Days of Ordination

35“Thus you will do to Aaron and his sons according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days you will fill their hands. 36Each day you will offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. You will purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you will anoint it to consecrate it. 37Seven days you will make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy; whatever touches the altar will become holy.

The Continual Burnt Offering

38“And this is what you will offer upon the altar: two year-old lambs each day, continually. 39The one lamb you will offer in the morning, and the second lamb you will offer at twilight. 40With the first lamb will be a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter hin of beaten oil and a quarter hin of wine as a drink offering. 41The second lamb you will offer at twilight. You will offer with it a grain offering and drink offering like those of the morning, as a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD. 42It will be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you to speak to you there.

I Will Dwell among the Children of Israel

43“There I will meet with the children of Israel, and the place will be consecrated by my glory. 44I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron and his sons I will consecrate to serve as priests to me. 45I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt so that I might dwell in their midst. I am the LORD their God.