Levítico 16

VBL · Chapter 16/27

1El Señor habló a Moisés después de la muerte de dos de los hijos de Aarón cuando fueron a la presencia del Señor.

2El Señor le dijo a Moisés: “Adviértele a tu hermano Aarón que no venga al Lugar Santísimo en cualquier momento que lo desee, de lo contrario morirá. Porque ahí es donde aparezco en la nube sobre la cubierta de expiación del Arca, detrás del velo.

3“Estas son las instrucciones para que Aarón entre en el santuario. Debe venir con un toro joven para una ofrenda por el pecado y con un carnero para una ofrenda quemada.

4Debe llevar la túnica de lino sagrada, con ropa interior de lino. Tiene que atar una faja de lino a su alrededor y ponerse el turbante de lino. Estas son ropas sagradas. Debe lavarse con agua antes de ponérsela.

5Del pueblo de Israel debe traer dos machos cabríos para la ofrenda por el pecado, y un carnero para el holocausto.

6Aarón presentará el toro como su propia ofrenda por el pecado para hacerse a sí mismo y a su familia.

7Luego traerá los dos machos cabríos y los presentará ante el Señor a la entrada del Tabernáculo de Reunión.

8Aarón echará suertes para elegir entre los cabritos, uno para el Señor y otro para el chivo expiatorio.

9Presentará el macho cabrío elegido por sorteo para el Señor y lo sacrificará como ofrenda por el pecado.

10El macho cabrío elegido por sorteo como chivo expiatorio será presentado vivo ante el Señor para arreglar las cosas enviándolo al desierto como chivo expiatorio.

11“Aarón debe presentar el toro para su ofrenda por el pecado para hacer las cosas bien para él y su casa matando el toro como su propia ofrenda por el pecado.

12Luego llenará un quemador de incienso con carbones encendidos del altar que está ante el Señor, y con sus manos llenas de incienso de olor dulce finamente molido, los llevará detrás del velo.

13Pondrá el incienso en presencia del Señor, sobre las brasas, y el humo del incienso cubrirá la tapa de la expiación sobre el Testimonio, para que no muera.

14Tomará un poco de sangre del toro y con su dedo la rociará en el lado este de la tapa de expiación. También rociará un poco con su dedo siete veces delante de la tapa de la expiación.

15“Entonces Aarón sacrificará el macho cabrío para la ofrenda por el pecado del pueblo y traerá su sangre detrás del velo, y con su sangre deberá hacer lo mismo que hizo con la sangre del toro: La rociará contra el propiciatorio y delante de él.

16Así es como corregirá el Lugar Santísimo y lo purificará de la inmundicia de los israelitas, de sus actos de rebelión y de todos sus pecados. Hará lo mismo con el Tabernáculo de Reunión que está en medio de su campamento, rodeado de sus vidas inmundas.

17Nadie puede estar en el Tabernáculo de Reunión desde que Aarón entra para purificar el Lugar Santísimo hasta que sale, después de haber arreglado las cosas para él, su casa y todos los israelitas.

18“Entonces irá al altar que está delante del Señor y lo purificará. Tomará la sangre del toro y del macho cabrío y la pondrá en todos los cuernos del altar.

19Rociará con su dedo siete veces la sangre para dedicarla y purificarla de la inmundicia de los israelitas.

20Una vez que Aarón haya terminado de purificar el Lugar Santísimo, el Tabernáculo de Reunión y el altar, presentará el macho cabrío vivo.

21Luego pondrá ambas manos sobre la cabeza del macho cabrío vivo y confesará sobre él todas las faltas de los israelitas, todos sus actos de rebelión y todos sus pecados. Los pondrá sobre la cabeza del macho cabrío y lo enviará al desierto, llevado allí por un hombre elegido para hacerlo.

22El macho cabrío tomará sobre sí mismo todos sus pecados y se irá a un lugar lejano, y el hombre lo enviará al desierto.

23“Aarón volverá al Tabernáculo de Reunión, se quitará las ropas de lino que se puso antes de entrar en el Lugar Santísimo, y las dejará allí.

24Se lavará con agua en el santuario y se pondrá su propia ropa. Luego saldrá a sacrificar su holocausto y el holocausto del pueblo que le da la razón a él y al pueblo.

25También debe quemar la grasa de la ofrenda por el pecado en el altar.

26“El hombre que fue y envió al chivo expiatorio debe lavar sus ropas y lavarse con agua; entonces podrá volver al campamento.

27“Los restos del toro usado para la ofrenda por el pecado y la cabra para la ofrenda por el pecado, cuya sangre fue traída al Lugar Santísimo para purificarla, deben ser llevados fuera del campamento. Su piel, carne y desechos deben ser quemados.

28La persona que los queme debe lavar sus ropas y lavarse con agua; luego puede volver al campamento.

29“Este reglamento se aplica a todos los tiempos. El décimo día del séptimo mes es un día de ayuno para ustedes. No debes hacer ningún trabajo. Esto se aplica a todos los nacidos en el país y también a cualquier extranjero que viva entre ustedes,

30porque en este día se hará el proceso de corregiros, para haceros limpios de todos sus pecados, limpios ante el Señor.

31Es un sábado de los sábados, un día de descanso y de ayuno. Esta regulación se aplica para todo el tiempo.

32El sacerdote que es ungido y dedicado a suceder a su padre como sumo sacerdote llevará a cabo la ceremonia de hacer las cosas bien, y se pondrá las ropas de lino sagrado.

33Llevará a cabo la purificación del Lugar Santísimo, el Tabernáculo de Reunión y el altar, corrigiendo también a los sacerdotes y a todo el pueblo.

34Esta regla se aplica a ustedes para siempre: una vez al año los israelitas harán expiación por todos sus pecados”. Moisés hizo todo lo que el Señor le ordenó.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is instituted: once a year, the high priest enters the Most Holy Place with sacrificial blood, and a second goat (the 'scapegoat') symbolically carries the people's sins into the wilderness.

Explanation

This is one of the most theologically rich chapters in Leviticus. Only once a year could the high priest enter the most sacred space of the tabernacle, and even then only with extreme preparation, since a single mistake could cost his life. The scapegoat — sent alive into the wilderness bearing the confessed sins on its head — is one of the most vivid images in the whole Bible of sin being removed 'far away.' Together, the two goats (one sacrificed, one released) portrayed two dimensions of forgiveness: atonement (payment) and removal (distance). The New Testament sees in Christ the definitive fulfillment of this day, as the one mediator who enters God's presence permanently on our behalf (Hebrews 9).

Fun facts

  • The word 'scapegoat,' still used today for someone who bears the blame for others, comes directly from this chapter — the 'goat that departs' in Hebrew is azazel, a term of uncertain origin.
  • According to Jewish tradition recorded in the Mishnah, a bell was tied to the high priest's leg and a rope to his waist when he entered the Most Holy Place, so that he could be pulled out if he died inside, since no one else was allowed to enter to rescue him.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Levítico 16:1This verse places the scene in time: the instruction comes right after the tragedy of Nadab and Abihu, and that’s what explains the extremely careful, detailed tone of the entire chapter about how to enter the most sacred place.
  2. Levítico 16:2This warning comes right after the death of Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, who had entered the sanctuary without authorization (chapter 10). From here on, not even the high priest himself could cross the veil covering the ark whenever he wanted — only on one single day of the year, with a specific ritual, described next.
  3. Levítico 16:3Only with a young bull for the sin offering and a ram for the burnt offering could Aaron enter the sanctuary on this specific day — the minimum personal requirements for approaching the most sacred place.
  4. Levítico 16:4On this day Aaron wore simple linen garments, without the gold ornaments and precious stones of his usual high priest’s uniform — a deliberate detail of humility on the most solemn day of the calendar.
  5. Levítico 16:5From the congregation came two goats for the sin offering and a ram for the burnt offering — the people’s collective contribution to that one unique day’s rituals.
  6. Levítico 16:6Before dealing with anything on the people’s behalf, Aaron offered the bull for his own household — the same principle as always: the priest settled his own fault before representing others.
  7. Levítico 16:7The two goats were presented together before the Lord, at the door of the tent, before the lot that would decide each one’s fate.
  8. Levítico 16:8Two goats were chosen by lot: one would be sacrificed for the Lord, the other would be the “scapegoat” — whose exact meaning scholars still debate (it could be a desert place, a kind of desert spirit, or simply the goat that goes away). Together the two form a single purification ritual, not two separate sacrifices.
  9. Levítico 16:9The goat chosen “for the Lord” in the lottery was the one that actually died as the sin offering — the opposite of the live goat that would be sent away.
  10. Levítico 16:10Unlike the other goat, this one wasn’t killed. It stayed alive, waiting for the moment when Aaron would lay his hands on it and send it off, alone, into the wilderness, far from any inhabited place.
  11. Levítico 16:11Here Aaron finally carries out what he had announced earlier: he slaughters the bull for his own sin offering, the first concrete step of the day’s ritual.
  12. Levítico 16:12Aaron took a censer full of coals from the altar and a handful of ground incense, carrying it all inside the veil — the physical preparation for entering the innermost chamber of the sanctuary.
  13. Levítico 16:13The cloud of incense covered the mercy seat before he saw the ark directly — a kind of physical and visual shield, since approaching without that filter was treated as fatal.
  14. Levítico 16:14This was the one moment of the year when blood entered the innermost chamber of the sanctuary — the most sacred point of blood application in the entire book.
  15. Levítico 16:15The same blood ritual done with the bull’s blood was repeated with the blood of the people’s goat — the atonement for the people received the same maximum treatment given to the priest’s own atonement.
  16. Levítico 16:16That day’s atonement wasn’t only for the people: it was also for the sanctuary itself, as though the accumulated impurities of the people over the year had stained the sacred space. That’s why the ritual cleansed the place first, before any individual.
  17. Levítico 16:17No one else could be in the tent while Aaron carried out this ritual — he stayed completely alone, representing the whole congregation by himself in this most sacred moment of the year.
  18. Levítico 16:18After tending to the innermost chamber, Aaron went out to purify the outer altar too, with blood from the two animals on its horns — the ritual worked its way through the sacred space from the inside out.
  19. Levítico 16:19Sprinkling blood seven times on the altar was like a deep annual cleaning: even with sacrifices happening all year round, this day cleared away any residue of impurity that had built up.
  20. Levítico 16:20Only after purifying the entire sanctuary, the tent, and the altar did Aaron finally bring out the live goat — the order mattered: the space first, then the people.
  21. Levítico 16:21Aaron placed both hands on the head of the live goat and confessed aloud the sins of the whole people. It was a gesture of symbolic transfer: the guilt passed onto the animal, which was then led far away, never to return to the people again.
  22. Levítico 16:22This is where the expression still used today, “scapegoat,” comes from: the animal carried away, to a place with no people, the guilt that had been symbolically transferred onto it.
  23. Levítico 16:23After the innermost ritual, Aaron took off the simple linen garments and left them right there — they were worn only for this one specific moment of the year, not for the rest of the priestly service.
  24. Levítico 16:24He bathed again, put on the regular high priest’s garments, and only then went out to offer the burnt offerings for himself and for the people — completing the cycle of the day.
  25. Levítico 16:25The fat of the sin offering still had to be burned on the altar — the same technical step as always, closing this specific part of the ritual.
  26. Levítico 16:26Even the one who simply led the live goat into the wilderness had to wash his clothes and bathe before returning to the camp — handling the animal carrying the symbolic guilt required its own purification.
  27. Levítico 16:27The bull and the goat whose blood had entered the sanctuary were taken outside the camp and burned completely — the same rule seen before: blood that enters the most sacred place means the flesh is never eaten.
  28. Levítico 16:28Whoever burned these animals also had to wash his clothes and bathe before returning — one more step of purification in the chain, tied to this specific task.
  29. Levítico 16:29Fasting and other forms of self-denial were what the law calls afflicting the soul. This is the day that would later become known as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and it applied equally to those born in Israel and to the foreigner living among them.
  30. Levítico 16:30This is the summary of the whole day’s purpose: an atonement that covered all sins at once, the broadest reach of any ritual described in the book so far.
  31. Levítico 16:31Called a “sabbath of rest,” this was the one day on the calendar when the law explicitly commanded the people to fast — “afflict your souls” was the phrase used for this kind of self-denial.
  32. Levítico 16:32The rule made clear that this ritual wasn’t exclusive to Aaron: every future high priest, once anointed, would have to repeat the same process, with the same linen garments.
  33. Levítico 16:33This verse sums up everything the day covered: the most sacred chamber, the tent, the altar, the priests themselves, and the whole congregation — the most complete reach of any ceremony in the book.
  34. Levítico 16:34Unlike the day-to-day atonements described in earlier chapters, handled case by case, this ritual happened only once a year. It covered, in one sweep, the accumulated sins of the whole people — which is why it stood out as the most solemn day of the calendar.

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