Study Desk

Take them to the priest. First, the priest will offer one bird for the sin offering. The priest will pull the bird's head from its neck but he will not pull it off completely.

The priest who offers the sin offering must eat it. But he must eat it in a holy place, in the courtyard around the Meeting Tent.

But if the blood of the sin offering was taken into the Meeting Tent and used in the Holy Place to make people pure, that sin offering must not be eaten. It must be completely burned in the fire.

"If you bring a fellowship offering simply because you want to give a gift to God or because it is part of a special promise you made to him, the sacrifice should be eaten the same day you offer it. But if there is any left, it must be eaten the next day.

But anyone who is unclean and eats the meat from the fellowship offerings that was offered to the Lord must be separated from their people.

You may use the fat from any animal that has died by itself or was torn by other animals, but you must never eat it.

The priest will burn the fat on the altar, but the breast of the animal will belong to Aaron and his sons.

Then Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu made a mistake. They took their incense dishes and put some fire and incense in them. But they did not use the fire that was on the altar—they took fire from some other place and brought it to the Lord . This was not what he had commanded.

Then Moses spoke to Aaron and his other sons Eleazar and Ithamar. He said, "Don't show any sadness! Don't tear your clothes or mess up your hair! If you do anything to show your sadness, you will be killed, and the Lord will show his anger against everyone. But let all the other people of Israel, your relatives, cry for those the Lord destroyed with fire.

But you must not even leave the entrance of the Meeting Tent. If you leave, you will die because the Lord 's anointing oil is on you." So Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar obeyed Moses.

"You, your sons, and your daughters may all eat the breast and thigh that were lifted up before the Lord as an offering. But you must eat these in a place that is clean because they come from the fellowship offerings. They are your share of those offerings that the Israelites give to God.

Moses looked for the goat of the sin offering, but it was already burned up. Moses became very angry with Aaron's other sons Eleazar and Ithamar. Moses said,

But Aaron said to Moses, "Look, today they brought their sin offering and burnt offering before the Lord . But you know what happened to me today! Do you think the Lord would be happy if I ate the sin offering today?"

"Some animals chew the cud, but they don't have split hooves. Don't eat these animals. Camels, rock badgers, and rabbits are like that, so they are unclean for you.

Other animals have hooves that are split into two parts, but they don't chew the cud. Don't eat these animals. Pigs are like that, so they are unclean for you.

But you must not eat anything that lives in the sea or in a river and does not have fins and scales. Just the thought of eating such a creature should make you sick. This will never change. So don't ever eat meat from anything like that. Don't even touch its dead body!

But you may eat insects if they have legs with joints above their feet so that they can jump.

"But stay away from all the other insects that have wings and crawl.

"Some animals have split hooves, but the hooves don't make exactly two parts. Some animals don't chew the cud. Some animals don't have hooves—they walk on their paws. All these animals are unclean for you. If you touch them, you will become unclean until evening.

"A spring or a well that collects water will remain clean, but anyone who touches the dead bodies of any unclean animal in that water will become unclean.