Leviticus 8

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “ Take Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull of the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, 3 and assemble the whole congregation at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.” 4 So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him, and the assembly gathered at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 5 And Moses said to them, “ This is what the LORD has commanded to be done.” 6 Then Moses presented Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. 7 He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him. He tied the woven band of the ephod around him and fastened it to him. 8 Then he put the breastpiece on him and placed the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece. 9 Moses also put the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the holy diadem, on the front of the turban, as the LORD had commanded him. 10 Next, Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it; and so he consecrated them. 11 He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. 12 He also poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. 13 Then Moses presented Aaron’s sons, put tunics on them, wrapped sashes around them, and tied headbands on them, just as the LORD had commanded him. The Priests’ Sin Offering 14 Moses then brought the bull near for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 15 Moses slaughtered the bull, took some of the blood, and applied it with his finger to all four horns of the altar, purifying the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it so that atonement could be made on it. 16 Moses also took all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it all on the altar. 17 But the bull with its hide, flesh, and dung he burned outside the camp, as the LORD had commanded him. The Priests’ Burnt Offering 18 Then Moses presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 19 Moses slaughtered the ram and sprinkled the blood on all sides of the altar. 20 He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces, and the fat. 21 He washed the entrails and legs with water and burned the entire ram on the altar as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. The Ram of Ordination (Exodus 29:10–30) 22 After that, Moses presented the other ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 24 Moses also presented Aaron’s sons and put some of the blood on their right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he sprinkled the blood on all sides of the altar. 25 And Moses took the fat — the fat tail, all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with their fat — as well as the right thigh. 26 And from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the LORD, he took one cake of unleavened bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer, and he placed them on the fat portions and on the right thigh. 27 He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and waved them before the LORD as a wave offering. 28 Then Moses took these from their hands and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. 29 He also took the breast — Moses ’ portion of the ram of ordination — and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering, as the LORD had commanded him. 30 Next, Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments, as well as Aaron’s sons and their garments. 31 And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “ Boil the meat at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it.’ 32 Then you must burn up the remainder of the meat and bread. 33 You must not go outside the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are complete; for it will take seven days to ordain you. 34 What has been done today has been commanded by the LORD in order to make atonement on your behalf. 35 You must remain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and keep the LORD ’s charge so that you will not die, for this is what I have been commanded.” 36 So Aaron and his sons did everything the LORD had commanded through Moses.

✦ What the text says

## Summary Leviticus 8 describes the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests: Moses washes them, dresses Aaron in the priestly garments, anoints the tabernacle and Aaron, and offers a bull for sin and two rams — one as a burnt offering and one as an ordination offering. The chapter closes with instructions for Aaron and his sons to remain at the Tent of Meeting for seven days to complete their ordination. ## Key words - *tzivah* ("he had commanded", H6680) — piel perfect, repeated throughout as *ka'asher tzivah Yahweh* ("as Yahweh had commanded"), marking each action as compliance with prior instruction rather than improvisation. - *yakrev* ("he presented", H7126H) — hiphil narrative form, used repeatedly (vv. 6, 13, 14, 18, 22, 24) to show Moses causing people or animals to approach the altar; the causative stem underlines Moses' active mediating role. - *yekadesh* ("he set apart as holy", H6942G) — piel narrative, applied to the altar, its vessels, and Aaron with his garments (vv. 10-12, 15, 30), showing a single verbal root binding together the consecration of objects and persons. - *milu'im* ("installation offerings", H4394) — plural noun, from a root meaning "to fill," designating the specific ram and rite of ordination (vv. 22, 28-29, 31, 33), distinct from the ordinary burnt offering terminology. - *tenufah* ("a wave-offering", H8573) — feminine noun describing the ritual gesture of raising portions "before Yahweh" (*lifnei Yahweh*, vv. 27, 29), a term with no exact equivalent action described elsewhere in the chapter. ## What the text says The chapter is built almost entirely on narrative *vav*-forms (verbs prefixed with *va-*, glossed "and then...he"), producing a rapid chain of sequential actions: Moses takes, presents, washes, clothes, anoints, slaughters, sprinkles, burns. This grammatical chaining creates a procedural rhythm, each clause depending on the one before it, mirroring the step-by-step character of the ritual itself. The recurring formula *ka'asher tzivah Yahweh 'et-Mosheh* ("just as Yahweh had commanded Moses," vv. 4, 9, 13, 17, 21, 29, 36) is not narrative action but a subordinate comparative clause; it appears at structural seams, closing off blocks of action and tying them back to the divine command given earlier (referenced but not repeated here). Several construct chains (noun + noun in "X of Y" relationship) carry precise ritual vocabulary: *shemen ha-mishchah* ("oil of the anointing," H8081 + H4888A), *par ha-chattat* ("bull of the sin offering," H6499 + H2403H), *eil ha-milu'im* ("ram of the installation offering," H0352A + H4394). These constructs function almost as technical terms, naming specific offerings by their ritual function rather than by generic animal or substance names alone. The repeated direct object marker *'et* (H0853), untranslated in English but marked in nearly every clause, signals with Hebrew precision exactly which item is being acted upon in a chapter where many items (blood, fat, bread, garments) are handled in close succession. ## Differences between versions In verse 25, the Hebrew lists the right thigh (*shoq ha-yamin*, H7785 + H3225G) among the portions taken by Moses, which the LXX renders as *ton brachiona ton dexion* ("the right arm/shoulder"), a difference in anatomical terminology between the Hebrew "thigh" and the Greek "arm." In verse 35, the Hebrew states the priests must keep Yahweh's charge "so that you will not die" (*ve-lo tamutu*, H3808 + H4191), while the LXX renders the purpose clause as *hina apothanēte* ("so that you may die"), a divergence in the presence or absence of the negation between the Hebrew and the Greek text as given.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.