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1 Now this is how you are to proceed to dedicate them to serve me as priests. Take a young bull and two rams with no defects. 2 Then using the best wheat flour, make the following without yeast: bread, cakes mixed with olive oil, and wafers sprinkled with olive oil. 3 Put them all in a basket, and bring them as an offering, along with the bull and the two rams.
4 Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water.* This was a ceremonial cleansing, not like normal daily washing. 5 Take the clothes and put them on Aaron: the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastpiece. Tie the ephod on him with its waistband. 6 Wrap the turban on his head and attach the holy crown† This clearly relates to the engraved plate of gold mentioned in 28:36-38, but here is called a “crown” or “diadem,” and so something more extensive may be involved. to the turban. 7 Then use the anointing oil to anoint him by pouring it over his head.
8 Then have his sons come and put the tunics on them. 9 Tie the sashes around Aaron and his sons and put headdresses on them. The priesthood belongs to them forever.
This is how you are to ordain Aaron and his sons. 10 Take the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to place their hands on its head. 11 Then slaughter the bull in the Lord's presence at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 12 Take some of the bull's blood and smear it on the horns of the altar with your finger. Then pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 13 Take all the fat that covers the intestines, the best parts‡ “Best parts”: this appears to refer to the omentum. of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and burn them on the altar. 14 But burn the bull's meat, its hide, and its excrement outside the camp—it is an offering for sin.
15 Next have Aaron and his sons place their hands on the head of one of the rams. 16 Slaughter the ram, take its blood, and splash it all around the altar. 17 Cut the ram in pieces, wash the intestines and legs, and put them with the other pieces and the head. 18 Then burn all of the ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord to be accepted by him.
19 Then have Aaron and his sons place their hands the head of the other ram. 20 Slaughter the ram, and put some of its blood on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Splash the rest of its blood all around the altar. 21 Take some of the blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his clothes, and on his sons and their clothes. Then he and his clothes will be made holy, likewise his sons and their clothes.
22 Take the fat from the ram, including the fat of its broad tail, the fat covering the intestines, the best parts of the liver, the two kidneys with their fat, as well as the right thigh (because this is a ram for ordination). 23 Also take one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with olive oil, and one wafer from the basket of bread made without yeast that is in the Lord's presence. 24 Give all of them to Aaron and his sons to wave§ Some scholars believe that instead of “waving” the offering before the Lord, it was lifted up to him. However, this would seem to be the same as what is traditionally called the “heave” offering. before the Lord as a wave offering. 25 Then take the different breads back and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering to the Lord to be accepted by him.
26 Take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it before the Lord as a wave offering. This is the part you can keep.* This portion from then on was reserved for the priests. 27 Set apart for Aaron and his sons the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the offering that is lifted up, both taken from the ram of ordination. 28 From now on whenever the Israelites lift up peace offerings to the Lord, these parts will belong to Aaron and his sons forever as a regular share from the Israelites.
29 The holy garments that Aaron has will be passed down to his descendants, so they can wear them when they're anointed and ordained. 30 The descendant who succeeds him as priest and enters the Tent of Meeting to serve in the Holy Place must wear them for the seven days of his ordination.† “Of his ordination”: supplied for clarity.
31 Take the ram of ordination and boil its meat in a holy place. 32 Aaron and his sons are to eat the ram's meat, and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, 33 They are to eat the meat and the bread that were part of the offerings that symbolized the forgiveness required‡ “That symbolized the forgiveness required”: expanded for clarity. The Hebrew word is simply “to cover over,” used to describe forgiveness and reconciliation. for their ordination and dedication. No one else may eat them, because they are holy. 34 If any of the meat of ordination or any bread remains until the morning, burn what's left. It must not be eaten, because it's holy.
35 This is the process you are to follow for Aaron and his sons, observing all the instructions I have given you. It will take seven days to ordain them. 36 Every day you are to sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for forgiveness. When you do this the altar needs to be purified. Anoint it to make it holy. 37 For seven days you shall purify the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will become completely holy, and everything that touches the altar will become holy.
38 You are to offer two lambs that are a year old on the altar, daily and continually. 39 In the morning offer one lamb, and offer the other one in the evening before it gets dark.§ “In the evening, before it gets dark”: literally, “between the evenings.” 40 With the first lamb also offer a tenth of an ephah of best quality flour, mixed with a quarter of a hin of olive oil, and a drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 41 Then offer the second lamb in the evening, with the same grain and drink offerings as in the morning, a burnt offering to the Lord and accepted by him.
42 These burnt offerings will be made continually for all generations at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting in the Lord's presence. I will meet you there to speak with you. 43 I will meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be made holy by my glory. 44 In this way I will dedicate the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will dedicate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests.
45 Then I will live with the Israelites and be their God. 46 They will know that I am the Lord their God, who led them out of Egypt, so that I could live with them. I am the Lord their God.
*29:4 This was a ceremonial cleansing, not like normal daily washing.
†29:6 This clearly relates to the engraved plate of gold mentioned in 28:36-38, but here is called a “crown” or “diadem,” and so something more extensive may be involved.
‡29:13 “Best parts”: this appears to refer to the omentum.
§29:24 Some scholars believe that instead of “waving” the offering before the Lord, it was lifted up to him. However, this would seem to be the same as what is traditionally called the “heave” offering.
*29:26 This portion from then on was reserved for the priests.
†29:30 “Of his ordination”: supplied for clarity.
‡29:33 “That symbolized the forgiveness required”: expanded for clarity. The Hebrew word is simply “to cover over,” used to describe forgiveness and reconciliation.
§29:39 “In the evening, before it gets dark”: literally, “between the evenings.”