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The Lord has commanded us to do as has been done this day, to make atonement on your behalf.
Leviticus 8:34 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB What has been done today, so Yahweh has commanded to do, to make atonement for you.
  • KJV As he hath done this day, so the LORD hath commanded to do, to make an atonement for you.
  • BSB What has been done today has been commanded by the LORD in order to make atonement on your behalf.
  • NKJV As he has done this day, so the Lord has commanded to do, to make atonement for you.
  • NLT Everything we have done today was commanded by the Lord in order to purify you, making you right with him.

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

Moses explains that what was done that day, by the LORD's command, was to make atonement for them. The ordination rites accomplished atonement for the priests.

Overview

The ceremony not only consecrated but also atoned for the priests, since even they needed cleansing from sin. This shows the comprehensive nature of the ordination. It magnifies the contrast with Christ, the sinless High Priest who needed no atonement for Himself yet provides it for us.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 3

  • Heb 7:27who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself.
  • Heb 10:11–12Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,
  • Heb 7:16who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life:

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Leviticus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Leviticus 8:34YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on LeviticusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 8:34 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.