Study Desk

Take them to the priest. First, the priest will offer one bird for the sin offering. The priest will pull the bird's head from its neck but he will not pull it off completely.

Then he will offer the second bird according to the rules for a burnt offering. The priest will do this to make you pure from the sin you did, and God will forgive you.

The Lord gave this command to Moses for the people:

"If you sin and break any of the commands that the Lord said must not be done, you are guilty. Even if you did not know about it, you are still responsible for your sin.

You must bring a ram that has nothing wrong with it (or the same amount in silver) to the priest. The priest will offer the ram, and God will forgive you for the sin you did without knowing it.

The Lord told Moses these rules for the people:

"You are guilty of sin against the Lord when you do any of these things: when you lie about what happened to something you were taking care of for someone else; when you lie about a deposit you received; when you steal something; when you cheat someone;

Then the priest will go to the Lord to make you pure, and God will forgive you for whichever of these things you did that made you guilty."

"This is the law for the grain offering: The sons of Aaron will bring it to the front of the altar as an offering to the Lord .

"This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must bring to the Lord when Aaron is anointed to be the high priest. They must bring 8 cups of fine flour for a grain offering. This will be offered at the times of the daily offering—half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.

"In the future, when Aaron's descendants take their place as the anointed priests, they will continue to make this grain offering to the Lord. This rule will continue forever. The grain offering must be completely burned for the Lord .

"These are the rules for the guilt offering, which is very holy:

The guilt offering is like the sin offering. The same rules are for both offerings. The priest who does the sacrificing will get the meat for food.

If anyone eats the meat from the fellowship offering on the third day, the Lord will not accept it as a sacrifice. It will have no value for that person, and to the Lord it will be like rotten meat! Whoever eats it will be responsible for their sin.

These are the laws about burnt offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, fellowship offerings, and offerings for when the priests are appointed.

Then Moses killed the bull and collected its blood. He used his finger to put some of the blood on all the corners of the altar. In this way he made the altar ready for sacrifices. Then he poured out the blood at the base of the altar to make the altar ready for sacrifices to make the people pure.

Then Moses brought the other ram. This ram was used for appointing Aaron and his sons to become priests. Aaron and his sons put their hands on the ram's head.

Then Moses took these things from the hands of Aaron and his sons and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering. So this was the offering for appointing Aaron and his sons as priests. It was a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord .

Moses took the breast and lifted it to show he had presented it to the Lord . It was Moses' share of the ram for appointing the priests. This was just as the Lord had commanded him.

Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, "I told you, ‘Aaron and his sons must eat these things.' So take the basket of bread and meat from the ceremony for appointing the priests. Boil that meat at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Eat the meat and bread at that place. Do this as I told you.