6 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘A person may take something that is not his. Or he may find it and keep it. He may tell his friend that he has not taken it. He might not give him the correct price for something. But then he is not obeying the Lord. ³ A person may speak words that are not true. That is a sin. A person may keep something that belongs to another person. He does not give it back. That is a wrong thing to do. He might find something and then he might say that it is his. If it is not his, he is not obeying God. ⁴ He has done something that is wrong. So he must show that he is sorry. He must give back anything that is not his. He must give back anything that he has found. He must give back anything that he has kept. He must give it to the person to whom it belongs. ⁵ He must give back everything and one fifth more. He must also, on the same day, give a gift to the Lord. ⁶ He must bring a sheep to the priest. The sheep must be a perfect male animal. The sheep must be worth the right amount of money. ⁷ The priest will give the sheep to the Lord. It is an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. Then the Lord will forgive the person.’

Rules for the priests

⁸ The Lord said to Moses, ⁹ ‘Tell Aaron and his sons my rules. They must burn these gifts on the altar. The fire must burn all night. ¹⁰ When the morning comes, the priest must dress himself in his linen clothes. The linen must be next to his skin. He must take the ashes from the fire and he must put them at the side of the altar. ¹¹ Then he must dress himself in other clothes. He must carry the ashes outside the camp and he must put them in a special place. ¹² The fire that is on the altar must never stop burning. Every morning the priest must put wood on it. He must also put on it the gifts and the fat of the friendship offerings. ¹³ The fire must always burn. It must not go out.

¹⁴ These are the rules for the gift of grain. Aaron's sons must bring it in front of the altar to give to the Lord. ¹⁵ A priest must take some of the flour and oil. He must mix this special part with incense and he must burn all of it on the altar. The smell of them while they are burning will give the Lord pleasure. ¹⁶ The priests will make into bread the flour that he did not burn. They must not use yeast to make the bread. They must eat the bread in a holy place, in the yard outside the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁷ The bread is for the priests because it is a holy part of a gift. It is holy, like the offerings for sin. And it is like the gifts when somebody does anything wrong. ¹⁸ Any son, grandson or male of Aaron's family can eat the bread. It is his usual part of the burnt offerings to the Lord. A person who touches the bread will become holy.’

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁰ ‘When Aaron is anointed, Aaron and his sons must give an offering to the Lord. It must be a tenth of an ephah (about two litres) of best flour. They must bring half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. ²¹ They must mix it with oil and they must cook it on a flat plate. Then they must break it into pieces and they must offer it to the Lord. The smell of it will give the Lord pleasure. ²² The son whom they will anoint to take Aaron's place must prepare the offering. ²³ All of the gifts that the priests give to God must be burnt completely. Nobody should eat them.’

The sin offering

²⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁵ ‘Tell Aaron and his sons this rule. When a person does wrong things he must give an animal to the Lord. The animal will be holy. The person must kill the animal at the north side of the altar. That is where they kill the offerings for sin. ²⁶ The priest who offered it will eat his part of the gift in a holy place. That is the yard outside the Tent of Meeting. ²⁷ If anyone or anything touches the meat they will become holy. If the blood touches the clothes of a person, he must wash them in a holy place. ²⁸ If a person cooks the meat in a clay pot, he must break the pot. He must break it when he has cooked the meat. If a person cooks the meat in a metal pot, he must wash the pot. He must wash it well when he has cooked the meat. And he must wash it again with clean water. ²⁹ The meat is holy.^[a] Only the priests' sons can eat it. ³⁰ They must take the blood of a sin offering into the Tent of Meeting. It is a sacrifice to atone for sin. Nobody should eat any of that offering. The priest must burn it.