Imamat 16:3-5

Day of Atonement Offerings

16:3 “In this way Aaron is to enter into the sanctuary – with a young bull ¹  for a sin offering ²  and a ram for a burnt offering. ³  16:4 He must put on a holy linen tunic, ⁴  linen leggings are to cover his body, ⁵  and he is to wrap himself with a linen sash ⁶  and wrap his head with a linen turban. ⁷  They are holy garments, so he must bathe ⁸  his body in water and put them on. 16:5 He must also take ⁹  two male goats ¹⁰  from the congregation of the Israelites for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

[16:3]  ¹ tn Heb “with a bull, a son of the herd.”

[16:3]  ² sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”

[16:3]  ³ sn For the “burnt offering” see the note on Lev 1:3.

[16:4]  ⁴ sn The term “tunic” refers to a shirt-like garment worn next to the skin and, therefore, put on first (cf. Exod 28:4, 39-40; 29:5, 8; 39:27). It covered the upper body only. For detailed remarks on the terminology for the priestly clothing in this verse (except the “linen leggings”) see the notes on Lev 8:7-9 and the literature cited there.

[16:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “shall be on his flesh.” As in many instances in Lev 15, the term “flesh” or “body” here is euphemistic for the male genitals (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1017, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 222; cf. the note on Lev 15:2), which the priest must be careful not to expose during such ritual procedures (see Exod 20:26 with 28:42-43).

[16:4]  ⁶ sn The sash fastened the tunic around the waist (Exod 28:4, 39; 29:9; 39:29).

[16:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and in a turban of linen he shall wrap.”

[16:4]  sn The turban consisted of wound up linen (cf. Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:31; Lev 16:4). It is usually thought to be a “turban,” but it might be only a “turban-like headband” wound around the forehead area (HALOT 624 s.v. מִצְנֶפֶת).

[16:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he shall bathe….”

[16:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “And he shall take.”

[16:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he-goats of goats”; CEV “two goats, both of them males.”