SECTION XXV.

 

VAIYIKRA TSAV.

 

 

               And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Instruct Aharon and his sons, saying: This is the law of the Burnt Offering. It is burnt offering, because burned upon the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. And the priest shall dress himself with the vestments of linen, and wear drawers of linen upon his flesh; and he shall separate the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering upon the altar, and set them beside the altar. And he shall take off his vestments, and dress himself with other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. But the fire upon the altar shall be burning on it, and never be extinguished; and the priest shall burn wood on it from morning to morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and burn upon it the fat of the sanctified oblations. The fire shall be ever burning on the altar, it shall not be extinguished.

 

               And this is the law of the Mincha which the sons of Aharon shall offer in the presence of the Lord before the altar. And he shall separate therefrom his handful lof the flour of the mincha and of its oil, and all the frankincense that is upon the mincha, and burn it at the altar as its memorial to be accepted with favour before the Lord. And the remainder of it may Aharon and his sons eat, unleavened shall it be eaten in the holy place, in the court of the tabernacle of ordinance shall they eat it. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my oblations; it is most sacred, as the sin offering and as the trespass offering. All the males of the children of Aharon may eat it. (This) is an everlasting statute[1] for your generations concerning the oblations of the Lord: every one who toucheth them shall be holy.

 

               And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying, This is the oblation of Aharon and his sons which they shall present before the Lord on the day when they anoint him. The tenth of three seahs of flour for a mincha perpetually, a half in the morning, and a half at eventide. It shall be made in a pan with oil; while soft it shall be brought a baken mincha offered in pieces[2] to be accepted with favour before the Lord. And of his sons, the priest who shall be anointed in his stead shall perform it. (This is) an everlasting statute before the Lord: it shall be burned entirely, and every mincha of the priest shall be entirely (burned); it is not to be eaten.

 

               And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with Aharon and with his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed, there shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord; it is most sacred. The priest who maketh atonement with its blood shall eat it; in the holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of ordinance. Every one who toucheth the flesth thereof must be holy. And if he drop some of its blood upon a vestment, that which is bedropped shall be purified in the holy place. But the earthen vessel in which it was sodden shall be broken; and if it be sodden in a vessel of brass, (that) shall be scoured and washed in water. Any man of the priests may eat thereof: it is most sacred. But no sin offering whose blood is brought into the tabernacle of ordinance to make atonement in the sanctuary may be eaten, but shall be burned with fire.

 

VII. And this is the law of the Trespass Offering; it is most holy. In the place where they kill the burnt offering, there shall they kill the trespass offering and sprinkle its blood round about; and all the fat of it shall be offered, with the tail and the fat which covereth the inwards. And the two kidneys and the fat which is upon them, upon the inwards, and the caul that is upon the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. And the priest shall burn them at the altar, an oblation before the Lord; it is a trespass offering. Every man of the priests may eat thereof in the holy place; it is most sacred. As the sin offering, so the trespass offering; they have one law; to the priest who maketh atonement therewith shall it be. And when the priest offereth a manÕs burnt sacrifice, the skin of the sacrifice that he priest offereth shall be his. And every mincha that is baken in the oven, or made in the pan, or upon the baking pan, to the priest who offereth it shall it belong. And every mincha sprinkled with oil, and that which is not sprinkled, shall belong to all the sons of Aharon, to the one man as to his brother.

 

               And this is the law of the Sanctified Oblations[3] which he shall offer before the Lord. If he present it as a thanksgiving, he shall offer as the sacrifice of the thanksgiving unleavened cakes sprinkled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and baken biscuits of flour sprinkled with oil. With the cakes he may offer his oblation of leavened bread for his sanctified oblation of thanksgiving. And of it he shall offer one of all the separated oblatons before the Lord: (the remainder) shall belong to the priest who sprinkleth the blood of the sanctified oblations. And the flesh of his consecrated thank offering shall be eaten on the day that it is offered, none of it shall be covered over till the morning. But if the offering of his oblation be a vow, or a voluntary gift, it may be eaten (partly) on the day that his sacrifice is offered, and that which remaineth of it may be eaten on the day after it, but what remaineth of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. If the flesh of his consecrated sacrifice be indeed eaten on the third day, it shall not be accepted form him who offered it, neither shall it be reckoned to him; it is an abomination,[4] and the man who ate of it shall bear his sin. And if flesh that is consecrated touch any thing unclean, it shall not be eaten, but he burned with fire. Every one who is clean by sanctification to eat the consecrated flesh may eat the flesh that is consecrated. But the man who eateth of the flesh of sacrifices consecrated before the Lord with his uncleanness upon him, that man shall be destroyed from his people. And the man who toucheth any thing unclean, whether the uncleanness of man or the uncleanness of beast, or of any unclean reptile, and eateth of the flesh of sacrifices consecrated before the Lord, that man shall perish form his people.

 

               And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with the sons of Israel, saying: You may not eat the fat of the ox or sheep or goat. But the fat of a dead carcase and the fat of an animal torn by a wild beast may be used in any manner of work, but of it you shall not eat. For whosoever eateth the fat of an animal that they offer as an oblation before the Lord, the man who eateth shall perish from his people. Nor in any of your habitations may you eat the blood of fowl or of beast: every man who eateth any kind of blood, that man shall be destroyed[5] from his people.

 

 

               And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with the sons of Israel, saying: Whosoever offereth his sanctified victim before the Lord, let him bring the oblation of his sanctified victim (himself) before the Lord, his own hands shall bring the oblations of the Lord: let him bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be lifted up an uplifting before the Lord. And the priest shall burn the fat at the altar; but the breast shall be fore Aharon and his sons. And the right shoulder (also) of your sanctified victims you shall give for a separation unto the priest. He of AharonÕs sons who offereth the blood and the fat of the sanctified victims shall have the right shoulder for a portion. For the uplifted breast and the shoulder of separation of the sacrifices of the Beni Israel I have given to Aharon the priest and to his sons by and everlasting statue[6] form the sons of Israel.

 

               This is the anointing of Aharon, and the anointing of his sons and of the LordÕs oblations, in the day that they that they present them to minister before the Lord, which the Lord commanded to give them in the day that they consecrate them from the sons of Israel, an everlasting statute unto your generations. This is the law of the burnt offering, of the mincha, nad of the sin-offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the oblation of the sanctified victims which the Lord commanded the sons of Israel to offer their oblations before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai.

 

               VIII. And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Bring Aharon near, and his sons with him, with the vestments, and the oil of consecration, and the bullock for the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened (cakes); and let all the congregation gather together at the gate of the tabernacle of ordinance. And Mosheh did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was gathered together at the gate of the tabernacle of ordinance. And Mosheh said to the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded to be done.

              

               And Mosheh brought Aharon and his sons near, and washed them with water; and he put upon him the vestment, and girded him with the girdle, and dressed him with the robe, and set upon him the ephod, and bound him with the band of the ephod, and ordained him therewith; and set upon him the breast plate, and put in the breast plate the uraia an the thummaia. And he set the mitre upon his head, and place on the mitre, on the forehead of his face, the plate of gold, the diadem of Holiness, as the Lord had commanded Mosheh.

                             

               And Mosheh took the consecrating oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled of it upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, and the laver and its base, to sanctify them. And he poured the oil of consecration upon AharonÕs head, and anointed him to consecrate him.

 

               And Mosheh brought the sons of Aharon near, and dressed them in vestments, and girded them with girdles, and appointed them with mitres, as the Lord had commanded Mosheh. And he brought the bullock near for the sin offering, and Aharon and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock which was the sin offering. And Mosheh took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about, with his finger, and purified the altar, and the blood he poured out at the base of the altar, and consecrated it to make atonement upon it. And he took all the fat which was upon the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat; and Mosheh burned them at the altar. But the bullock, with his skin, and his flesh, and his food, he burned with fire without the camp, as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And he brought the ram for the burnt offering, and Aharon and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram, and he killed it, and Mosheh sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. And the ram he divided by his members; and Mosheh burned the head and the members with the fat. And the inwards and the legs he washed with water: and Mosheh burned all the ram at the altar: it was a whole burnt offering before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Mosheh. And he brought the second ram of the oblations;[7] and Aharon and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and he killed it; and Mosheh took of its blood, and put it upon the tip of AharonÕs right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the toe of his right foot; and Mosheh sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. And he took the fat and the tail, and all the fat which is upon the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and the right shoulder: and from the basket of unleavened cakes that was before the Lord he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of bread (anointed with) oil, and one wafer, and set them upon the fat and upon the right shoulder, and put the whole upon AharonÕs hands and upon the hands of his sons, and uplifted them, an elevation before the Lord. And Mosheh took them form off their hands, and burned (them) at the altar upon the burnt offering: they were offerings to be received with acceptance, an oblation before the Lord. And Mosheh took the breast, and uplifted it, an elevation before the Lord: of the ram of the oblations it was the portion of Mosheh, as the Lord had commanded Mosheh. And Mosheh took of the oil of consecration, and of the blood that was upon the altar, and sprinkled upon Aharon, upon his vestments, and upon his sons, and upon his sonsÕ vestments with him, [and sanctified Aharon and his garments, and his sons and his sonsÕ garments with him.][8] 

 

               And Mosheh spake to Aharon and to his sons: Boil the flesh at the gate of the tabernacle of ordinance, and eat it there with the bread which is in the basket of oblations, as I was commanded, saying, Aharon and his sons shall eat it. And that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread, you shall burn in the fire. And form the door of the tabernacle of ordinance ye shall not go forth (for) seven days, until the day that the days of your oblation be completed; for seven days shall your oblations be offered, as hath been done this day, (as) the Lord commanded to be done to make atonement for you. And at the door of the tabernacle of ordinance ye shall dwell seven days and nights, and watch the watches of the Word of the Lord, that you die not; for so am I commanded. And Aharon and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded by the hand of Mosheh.

 



[1] Sam. Vers., ÒIt is an everlasting portion.Ó

[2] Sam. Vers., Òthou shalt divide it in pieces.Ó

[3] Peace Offerings.

[4] Sam. Vers., Òa rejected thing.Ó

[5] Or, Òshall cease from.Ó Sam. Vers., Òshall be rooted out.Ó Heb. Text, Òbe cut off from,Ó Òbe excommunicated.Ó

[6] Sam. Vers., Òfor a perpetual portion.Ó

[7] Sam. Vers., Òof the completion.Ó

[8] The clause in brackets is not found in some copies.