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Exodus 29: What the Passage Says

160 claims across 46 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Exodus 29 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD tells Moses exactly how to set Aaron and his sons apart as priests: wash them, dress them in the holy garments, anoint Aaron with oil, and offer a bull and two rams along with unleavened bread. The chapter details which parts of the animals are burned, which blood goes where, which portions are waved before the LORD, and which portions Aaron and his sons eat at the entrance of the tent, and it assigns the priests a lasting share from Israel's peace offerings. The ceremony lasts seven days, with a bull offered daily for the altar. The chapter then commands two lambs offered at the altar each day, and ends with God saying he will meet Israel there, make the tent, the altar, and the priests holy, and live among the Israelites as their God.

Claim by Claim

  1. 29:1
    • This is what you are to do to Aaron and his sons to consecrate them to serve as priests to God
    • Take one young bull
    • Take two rams without blemish
  2. 29:2
    • Take unleavened bread
    • Take unleavened cakes mixed with oil
    • Take unleavened wafers anointed with oil
    • Make them of fine wheat flour
  3. 29:3
    • Put the bread, cakes, and wafers in one basket
    • Bring them in the basket
    • Bring the bull and the two rams
  4. 29:4
    • Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting
    • Wash Aaron and his sons with water
  5. 29:5
    • Take the garments
    • Clothe Aaron with the tunic
    • Clothe Aaron with the robe of the ephod
    • Clothe Aaron with the ephod
    • Clothe Aaron with the breastpiece
    • Gird Aaron with the woven band of the ephod
  6. 29:6
    • Put the turban on Aaron's head
    • Put the holy crown on the turban
  7. 29:7
    • Take the anointing oil
    • Pour the anointing oil on Aaron's head
    • Anoint Aaron
  8. 29:8
    • Bring Aaron's sons forward
    • Clothe Aaron's sons with tunics
  9. 29:9
    • Gird Aaron and his sons with sashes
    • Bind headdresses on Aaron and his sons
    • The priesthood shall belong to them by a perpetual statute
    • Ordain Aaron and his sons
  10. 29:10
    • Bring the bull before the tent of meeting
    • Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull
  11. 29:11
    • Slaughter the bull before the LORD
    • The slaughter is at the entrance of the tent of meeting
  12. 29:12
    • Take some of the blood of the bull
    • Put the blood on the horns of the altar with your finger
    • Pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar
  13. 29:13
    • Take all the fat that covers the entrails
    • Take the lobe above the liver
    • Take the two kidneys
    • Take the fat that is on the kidneys
    • Burn these on the altar
  14. 29:14
    • Burn the flesh of the bull with fire outside the camp
    • Burn the bull's hide outside the camp
    • Burn the bull's dung outside the camp
    • It is a sin offering
  15. 29:15
    • Take one of the rams
    • Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram
  16. 29:16
    • Slaughter the ram
    • Take the ram's blood
    • Sprinkle the blood on the altar all around
  17. 29:17
    • Cut the ram into its pieces
    • Wash the ram's entrails and legs
    • Place the entrails and legs with the pieces and the head
  18. 29:18
    • Burn the whole ram on the altar
    • It is a burnt offering to the LORD
    • It is a pleasing aroma
    • It is an offering made by fire to the LORD
  19. 29:19
    • Take the second ram
    • Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram
  20. 29:20
    • Slaughter the ram
    • Take some of its blood
    • Put the blood on the lobe of Aaron's right ear
    • Put the blood on the lobes of his sons' right ears
    • Put the blood on the thumbs of their right hands
    • Put the blood on the big toes of their right feet
    • Sprinkle the blood on the altar all around
  21. 29:21
    • Take some of the blood that is on the altar
    • Take some of the anointing oil
    • Sprinkle it on Aaron
    • Sprinkle it on Aaron's garments
    • Sprinkle it on Aaron's sons
    • Sprinkle it on the garments of his sons with him
    • Aaron shall be made holy
    • Aaron's garments shall be made holy
    • His sons shall be made holy
    • His sons' garments shall be made holy
  22. 29:22
    • Take from the ram the fat
    • Take the fat tail
    • Take the fat that covers the entrails
    • Take the lobe of the liver
    • Take the two kidneys
    • Take the fat that is on the kidneys
    • Take the right thigh
    • This ram is a ram of ordination
  23. 29:23
    • Take one loaf of bread
    • Take one cake of oiled bread
    • Take one wafer
    • These are from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD
  24. 29:24
    • Put all of these in the hands of Aaron
    • Put all of these in the hands of his sons
    • Wave them as a wave offering before the LORD
  25. 29:25
    • Take them from their hands
    • Burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering
    • It is for a pleasing aroma before the LORD
    • It is an offering made by fire to the LORD
  26. 29:26
    • Take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination
    • Wave the breast as a wave offering before the LORD
    • The breast shall be your portion
  27. 29:27
    • Consecrate the breast of the wave offering
    • Consecrate the thigh of the contribution
    • The breast is waved and the thigh is lifted up
    • They come from the ram of ordination
    • They come from what is for Aaron and what is for his sons
  28. 29:28
    • This shall belong to Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the children of Israel
    • It is a contribution
    • It shall be a contribution from the children of Israel out of their peace offerings
    • It is their contribution to the LORD
  29. 29:29
    • The holy garments of Aaron shall belong to his sons after him
    • They are to be anointed in the garments
    • They are to be ordained in the garments
  30. 29:30
    • The son who becomes priest in Aaron's place shall wear the garments seven days
    • He is the one who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place
  31. 29:31
    • Take the ram of ordination
    • Boil its flesh in a holy place
  32. 29:32
    • Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram
    • Aaron and his sons shall eat the bread that is in the basket
    • They shall eat at the entrance of the tent of meeting
  33. 29:33
    • They shall eat the things by which atonement was made
    • The atonement was made to ordain them
    • The atonement was made to consecrate them
    • An outsider shall not eat them
    • The reason is that they are holy
  34. 29:34
    • If any of the flesh of ordination or of the bread remains until morning, burn the remainder with fire
    • The remainder shall not be eaten
    • The reason is that it is holy
  35. 29:35
    • Do to Aaron and his sons in this way
    • Do according to all that God commanded
    • Take seven days to ordain them
  36. 29:36
    • Offer a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement
    • Cleanse the altar by making atonement for it
    • Anoint the altar to consecrate it
  37. 29:37
    • Make atonement for the altar seven days
    • Consecrate the altar
    • The altar shall be most holy
    • Whatever touches the altar shall become holy
  38. 29:38
    • This is what you shall offer on the altar
    • Two lambs a year old each day, continually
  39. 29:39
    • Offer one lamb in the morning
    • Offer the second lamb at twilight
  40. 29:40
    • With the one lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil
    • With the one lamb offer a drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine
  41. 29:41
    • Offer the second lamb at twilight
    • Offer with it the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning
    • It is for a pleasing aroma
    • It is an offering made by fire to the LORD
  42. 29:42
    • This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations
    • It shall be at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD
    • God will meet you there
    • God will speak to you there
  43. 29:43
    • God will meet with the children of Israel there
    • The place shall be sanctified by God's glory
  44. 29:44
    • God will consecrate the tent of meeting
    • God will consecrate the altar
    • God will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve as priests to him
  45. 29:45
    • God will dwell among the children of Israel
    • God will be their God
  46. 29:46
    • They shall know that God is the LORD their God
    • God brought them out of the land of Egypt
    • God brought them out so that he might dwell among them
    • God is the LORD their God

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

29:1
"Hallow" and "consecrate" both translate Hebrew words meaning to set something apart for exclusive sacred use, the opposite of "common," not a statement about a person's inner character. "Without blemish" means physically flawless: no injury, sickness, or deformity. Only unblemished animals were acceptable for sacrifice.
29:2
Bread "without leaven" is made without any fermenting starter, so it does not rise. The three items differ in form: ordinary flat loaves, thicker cakes with oil worked into the dough, and thin crisp wafers with oil smeared on top.
29:4
The KJV's "tabernacle of the congregation" renders a Hebrew phrase better understood as "tent of meeting", the portable sanctuary described in the preceding chapters, named for its function as the place where God and Moses met. The washing is a ritual cleansing, not a bath for hygiene.
29:5
The ephod was a sleeveless outer garment, something like an apron, worn over the robe and held by a woven band. The breastplate (better "breastpiece") was a folded square pouch of cloth set with twelve engraved stones, attached to the front of the ephod. "Gird" simply means to tie around the waist; "curious" in 1611 English meant skillfully or intricately made, not strange.
29:6
"Mitre" is a turban of wound linen; it has nothing to do with the pointed hat later worn by bishops. The "holy crown" is a small engraved gold plate tied across the front of the turban, described earlier in Exodus 28.
29:7
Anointing means pouring or smearing perfumed olive oil on someone as the public act that installs him in an office. In the ancient Near East kings and priests were installed this way; the oil marks the change of status.
29:9
"Bonnets" are cloth caps or wound headbands for the ordinary priests, plainer than Aaron's turban. "A perpetual statute" means a standing, permanent regulation. The word translated "consecrate" is literally "fill the hand", an old idiom for installing someone in an office, which is why the ceremony is called the filling of hands throughout this chapter.
29:10
Laying hands on the animal's head is a formal gesture of designation: it identifies this particular animal as belonging to these particular people, so that what happens to it is done on their behalf.
29:12
The altar had four upward projections at its corners, called "horns" from their shape. They were the highest and most prominent points, and blood was applied there in several rituals. "The bottom" is the base or foundation ledge at ground level.
29:13
"The inwards" are the entrails or internal organs, and "the caul above the liver" is the lobe or fatty appendage attached to it. Fat was regarded as the richest and best part of an animal, which is why these portions in particular are burned rather than eaten.
29:14
A "sin offering" (the Hebrew word also carries the sense of purification) dealt with impurity and wrongdoing. Unlike most sacrifices, this one is not eaten at all: the carcass is destroyed outside the camp, away from the area where Israel lived.
29:16
"Sprinkle" here translates a word meaning to throw or dash liquid, the blood is flung against the sides of the altar from a basin, not flicked drop by drop.
29:18
A "burnt offering" is one burned up entirely, with no part kept back for anyone to eat; the Hebrew name means "that which goes up." "A sweet savour" is a stock phrase, literally "a soothing smell," used throughout these laws to mean the offering is accepted.
29:20
Ear, thumb and big toe are the extremities of the body, the far edges of a person, as the horns are of the altar. The right side was regarded as the favored side.
29:22
"The rump" is the broad fatty tail of the fat-tailed sheep common in the region, a prized cut of fat that hardly exists on modern Western breeds. The KJV's "right shoulder" translates a word for the upper hind leg, that is, the thigh.
29:24
A "wave offering" was presented by a ritual gesture, the portion was held out or moved before the LORD to transfer it formally into God's possession, after which some of it could be given back for the priests to eat. The exact motion is uncertain; "waving" is the traditional guess.
29:26
"Thy part" is addressed to Moses, who is conducting this ceremony and so takes the officiating priest's share on this one occasion.
29:27
A "heave offering" is a portion lifted up or set aside as a contribution; the KJV word "heave" reflects an older understanding of the gesture as raising the portion, though the Hebrew term may simply mean a levy or portion removed from a larger whole.
29:28
"Peace offerings" (also translated fellowship or well-being offerings) are sacrifices in which the worshiper eats most of the meat in a shared meal. This verse assigns the priests a standing share of every such sacrifice, as their income.
29:29
The garments belonged to the office rather than to the man. Each high priest after Aaron would be installed wearing the same set of clothes, which is why they are described in such detail and treated as holy objects in their own right.
29:30
"The holy place" is the outer room inside the tent, entered daily by priests, as distinct from the innermost room behind the curtain.
29:31
"Seethe" is simply the old word for boil. The meat must be cooked within the sanctuary area, not carried home.
29:33
"Atonement" translates a Hebrew verb meaning to wipe clean, purge, or pay a ransom; in these laws it describes the ritual removing impurity so that people and objects can be used in sacred service. "A stranger" here does not mean a foreigner but any unauthorised person, anyone outside the priestly family.
29:34
Sacred food could not simply be stored or thrown out; once its use was over it had to be destroyed by fire so it could not be treated as ordinary food.
29:35
Seven days marked a complete, unbroken period in Israelite practice. The installation was not a single afternoon's ceremony but a full week in which the priests stayed at the sanctuary and the whole sequence was repeated daily.
29:36
Here atonement is made for an object rather than a person. The altar itself is being cleansed and brought into service, roughly the way a new building is commissioned before it is used.
29:37
"Whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy" can be read two ways, and the Hebrew does not settle it: either that whatever touches the altar becomes holy, or that only what is already holy may touch it. In either reading holiness is treated as contagious and dangerous to handle.
29:38
"Of the first year" means up to a year old, yearling lambs, not newborns.
29:39
"At even" translates a Hebrew phrase literally meaning "between the two evenings." Its precise sense was already disputed in ancient times: some understood mid-afternoon to sunset, others the interval between sunset and full dark.
29:40
"A tenth deal" is a tenth of an ephah, roughly two quarts or two liters of flour. A hin was about a gallon or four liters, so a quarter hin is about a quart or a liter. "Beaten oil" is oil from olives crushed by hand rather than pressed with weights, the finest grade. A "drink offering" is wine poured out beside the altar rather than drunk.
29:41
The KJV's "meat offering" means a grain offering. In 1611 "meat" meant food in general, not flesh; this offering contains no meat at all.
29:42
"Continual" means at fixed times every single day without a break, not burning nonstop. This twice-daily offering became the frame of the whole daily schedule at the sanctuary and later at the temple, the fixed points around which everything else was arranged.
29:43
"My glory" translates a word for weight or substance, used of the visible blaze of God's presence described elsewhere in Exodus as cloud and fire.
29:45
The verb "dwell" is built on the same root as the word for the tabernacle itself, which means "dwelling place", the tent is named for what this verse promises.

Read Exodus 29