Exodus 29

29 ¹ This is what you shall do to consecrate them to serve me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams with no defects, ² and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. ³ Put them in one basket and present them in the basket, 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. ⁵ Take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastpiece, and fasten the ephod on him with its skillfully woven band. ⁶ Set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. ⁷ Then take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him. ⁸ Bring his sons forward and clothe them with tunics, ⁹ and wrap sashes around Aaron and his sons and fasten their caps on their heads. The priesthood shall be theirs by a lasting statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

The Sacrifices of Ordination

¹⁰ Then bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. ¹¹ Slaughter the bull before me at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹² Take some of the bull's blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³ Take all the fat that covers the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. ¹⁴ But burn the bull's flesh, its hide, and its dung with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.

¹⁵ Then take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. ¹⁶ Slaughter the ram, take its blood, and throw it against the sides of the altar. ¹⁷ Cut the ram into pieces, wash its internal organs and legs, and place them with its pieces and its head. ¹⁸ Then burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to me, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to me.

¹⁹ Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. ²⁰ Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. ²¹ Then take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and their garments with him. So he and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and their garments with him. ²² Take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat covering the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh, for it is a ram of ordination. ²³ Take also one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before me. ²⁴ Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and wave them as a wave offering before me. ²⁵ Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before me. It is a food offering presented to me.

²⁶ Take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it as a wave offering before me, and it shall be your portion. ²⁷ Consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh that was lifted up as a contribution from the ordination ram; these are the portions belonging to Aaron and his sons. ²⁸ It shall belong to Aaron and his sons as a permanent share from the people of Israel, for it is a contribution. It shall be the contribution the people of Israel give from their peace offerings, their contribution to me.

²⁹ The holy garments of Aaron shall belong to his sons after him, so that they may be anointed and ordained in them. ³⁰ The son who succeeds him as priest and comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place shall wear them seven days.

The Priests' Sacred Meal

³¹ Take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. ³² At the entrance of the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram and the bread in the basket. ³³ They shall eat the food that was used to make atonement at their ordination and consecration, but no outsider shall eat it, because it is holy. ³⁴ And if any of the ordination meat or any of the bread remains until morning, burn what is left with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

³⁵ So you shall do for Aaron and his sons, according to everything I have commanded you. Take seven days to ordain them, ³⁶ and each day offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷ For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches it will become holy.

The Daily Offering Before the Father

³⁸ This is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old, every day without fail. ³⁹ Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight. ⁴⁰ With the first lamb offer about two quarts of fine flour mixed with about one quart of pressed oil, and about one quart of wine as a drink offering. ¹ 1 v40 A hin was a liquid measure of roughly a gallon (about 3.8 liters), so a quarter of a hin is close to a quart. ⁴¹ Offer the second lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to me. ⁴² This shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before me, where I will meet with you to speak with you. ⁴³ There I will meet with the people of Israel, and the place will be consecrated by my glory. ⁴⁴ I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests.

The Father Dwells Among His People

⁴⁵ I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their Father. ⁴⁶ They will know that I am their Father, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am their Father.