“When Aaron enters the sanctuary area, he must follow these instructions fully. He must bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Aaron shall come into the sanctuary with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
- KJV Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
- BSB This is how Aaron is to enter the Holy Place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
- NKJV “Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering.
- NASB Aaron shall enter the Holy Place with this: with a bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Aaron is to enter the sanctuary with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He cannot approach God without atoning sacrifice.
Overview
The high priest may come into the holy place only by means of a bull for sin and a ram for ascension to God. Even Aaron, the mediator, needed sacrifice to enter. This underscores that no one approaches God apart from atonement, and it foreshadows Christ, who entered the heavenly sanctuary not with the blood of animals but with His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Lev 4:3if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin, which he has sinned, a young bull without defect to Yahweh for a sin offering.
- Heb 9:24–25For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
- Lev 1:10“‘If his offering is from the flock, from the sheep, or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without defect.
- Lev 8:18He presented the ram of the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
- Heb 9:7but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the people.
- Heb 9:12nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.
- Num 29:7–11“‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls. You shall do no kind of work;
- Lev 8:14He brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.
- Lev 9:3You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both a year old, without defect, for a burnt offering;
- Lev 1:3“‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before Yahweh.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 16:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.