Imamat 16:4

16:4 He must put on a holy linen tunic, ¹  linen leggings are to cover his body, ²  and he is to wrap himself with a linen sash ³  and wrap his head with a linen turban. ⁴  They are holy garments, so he must bathe ⁵  his body in water and put them on.

Imamat 16:6

16:6 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.

Imamat 16:11-15

The Sin Offering Sacrificial Procedures

16:11 “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, 16:12 and take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord ⁶  and a full double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, ⁷  and bring them inside the veil-canopy. ⁸  16:13 He must then put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of incense will cover the atonement plate which is above the ark of the testimony, ⁹  so that he will not die. ¹⁰  16:14 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 plate, ¹¹  and in front of the atonement plate he is to sprinkle some of the blood seven times with his finger. ¹² 

16:15 “He must then slaughter the sin offering goat which is for the people. He is to bring its blood inside the veil-canopy, ¹³  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 plate and in front of the atonement plate.

Imamat 16:18

16:18 “Then ¹⁴  he is to go out to the altar which is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He is to take ¹⁵  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.

Imamat 16:21-22

16:21 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, ¹⁶  and thus he is to put them ¹⁷  on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man standing ready. ¹⁸  16:22 The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, ¹⁹  so he is to send the goat away ²⁰  in the wilderness.

[16:4]  ¹ sn The term “tunic” refers to a shirt-like garment worn next to the skin and, therefore, put on first (cf. Exod 28:4, 39-40; 29:5, 8; 39:27). It covered the upper body only. For detailed remarks on the terminology for the priestly clothing in this verse (except the “linen leggings”) see the notes on Lev 8:7-9 and the literature cited there.

[16:4]  ² tn Heb “shall be on his flesh.” As in many instances in Lev 15, the term “flesh” or “body” here is euphemistic for the male genitals (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1017, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 222; cf. the note on Lev 15:2), which the priest must be careful not to expose during such ritual procedures (see Exod 20:26 with 28:42-43).

[16:4]  ³ sn The sash fastened the tunic around the waist (Exod 28:4, 39; 29:9; 39:29).

[16:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and in a turban of linen he shall wrap.”

[16:4]  sn The turban consisted of wound up linen (cf. Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:31; Lev 16:4). It is usually thought to be a “turban,” but it might be only a “turban-like headband” wound around the forehead area (HALOT 624 s.v. מִצְנֶפֶת).

[16:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he shall bathe….”

[16:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he shall take the fullness of the censer, coals of fire, from on the altar from to the faces of the Lord.”

[16:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the fullness of the hollow of his two hands, finely ground fragrant incense.”

[16:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he shall bring from house to the veil-canopy.”

[16:13]  ⁹ tn The text here has only “above the testimony,” but this is surely a shortened form of “above the ark of the testimony” (see Exod 25:22 etc.; cf. Lev 16:2). The term “testimony” in this expression refers to the ark as the container of the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them (see Exod 25:16 with Deut 10:1, 5, etc.).

[16:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he will not die,” but it is clear that the purpose for the incense cloud was to protect the priest from death in the presence of the Lord (cf. vv. 1-2 above).

[16:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “on the faces of the atonement plate toward the east.” Some have taken this to mean that the ark was stationed just behind the veil-canopy on the eastern side of the most holy place. Thus, the high priest would need to enter and walk toward the west end of the most holy place and then turn eastward in order to face the ark and sprinkle the blood in an eastward direction. The rendering here, however, requires that the ark was stationed on the western end, or perhaps in the middle of the area, so that as the priest entered he was already facing the ark and would sprinkle the blood on the eastern face of the atonement plate, in a westward direction (see, e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 239 versus J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1032).

[16:14]  ¹² sn Presumably in this case the blood was sprinkled seven times on the ground in front of the ark on which the atonement plate was mounted.

[16:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he shall bring its blood into from house to the veil-canopy.”

[16:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) indicates the sequence of events here.

[16:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And he shall take.”

[16:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “transgressions to all their sins.”

[16:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he shall give them.”

[16:21]  ¹⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term עִתִּי (’itti) is uncertain. It is apparently related to עֵת (’et, “time”), and could perhaps mean either that he has been properly “appointed” (i.e., designated) for the task (e.g., NIV and NRSV) or “ready” (e.g., NASB and NEB).

[16:22]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term rendered “inaccessible” derives from a root meaning “to cut off” (cf. NAB “an isolated region”). Another possible translation would be “infertile land” (see HALOT 187 s.v. *גָּזֵּר and cf. NRSV “a barren region”; NLT “a desolate land.”

[16:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he [the man (standing) ready, v. 21] shall send the goat away.”