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Leviticus 16:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Leviticus 16:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 16[a]
The Day of Atonement. The Lord spoke to Moses after the two sons of Aaron died, after they came before the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother that he should not come into the sanctuary, inside of the veil, before the seat of atonement that is on the Ark whenever he wants, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud over the seat of atonement. Read full chapterFootnotes
- Leviticus 16:1 Once a year, the high priest entered alone into the innermost part of the sanctuary and with the blood sprinkled the propitiatory, that is, the costly covering that contained the Ark of the Covenant and that symbolized the seat of God. The purpose of this rite was to expiate the uncleannesses with which the children of Israel had stained God’s dwelling and to renew the personal relationship which the covenant at Sinai had established between God and his people.
1
The ceremony of atonement also continued a primitive Semitic practice: a goat was taken out into the wilderness, that is, into infertile and wretched land, and was let go there, not as an offering to a demon, Azazel (the word appears in the Hebrew text) but in order to get rid of the sins of which the animal was the symbolic bearer.
The Letter to the Hebrews recalls this liturgy in order to assert that Christ fulfilled in a definitive way what was done on the Day of Atonement; that is, he took upon himself the sins of the world and made expiation for them by means of his own blood (Heb 9:6-14).
