49 Bible Verses about Expiation

Then the next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone forth from the Lord; the plague has begun!” So Aaron took the burning censer as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague had [already] begun among the people; and he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living, so that the plague was brought to an end.

Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not put the guilt of innocent blood among Your people Israel.’ And the guilt of blood shall be forgiven them.

O do not remember against us the sins and guilt of our forefathers.
Let Your compassion and mercy come quickly to meet us,
For we have been brought very low.

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name;
Rescue us, forgive us our sins for Your name’s sake.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them— if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer to the Lord a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. read more.
He shall bring the bull to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting before the Lord, and shall lay his hand on the bull’s head [transferring symbolically his guilt to the sacrifice] and kill the bull before the Lord. Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the Tent of Meeting;

‘But when you unintentionally fail and do not observe all these commandments, which the Lord has spoken to Moses, even all that the Lord has commanded you through Moses, from the day that the Lord gave commandments and onward throughout your generations, then it shall be, if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull as a burnt offering, as a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering. read more.
Then the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven, for it was an error and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their error. So all the congregation of the Israelites will be forgiven as well as the stranger who lives among them as a resident alien, because all the people were involved in the error. ‘Also if one person sins unintentionally, then he shall offer a female goat one year old as a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who commits an error when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him so that he may be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, whether he is native-born among the Israelites or a stranger who is living among them as a resident alien.

‘Now if a man has intimate relations with a woman who is a slave acquired for [marriage to] another man, but who has not been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment [after an investigation]; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free; but he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, a ram as a guilt offering. The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed; and he shall be forgiven for his sin.

Once a year Aaron shall make atonement [for sin] on its horns. He shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

Aaron [as high priest] shall enter the Holy Place in this way: with [the blood of] a young bull as a sin offering and [the blood of] a ram as a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be belted with the linen sash, and dressed with the linen turban (these are the holy garments). He shall bathe his body in water and put them on. He shall take from the congregation of the Israelites [at their expense] two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering. read more.
Then Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord, the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement on it; it shall be sent into the wilderness as the scapegoat. “Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household (the other priests), and he shall kill the bull as the sin offering for himself. He shall take a censer full of burning coals from the [bronze] altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil [into the Most Holy Place], and put the incense on the fire [in the censer] before the Lord, so that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on [the ark of] the Testimony, otherwise he will die. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for [the sins of] the people and bring its blood within the veil [into the Most Holy Place] and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place (Holy of Holies) because of the uncleanness and transgressions of the Israelites, for all their sins. He shall also do this for the Tent of Meeting which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness (impurities). There shall be no person in the Tent of Meeting when the high priest goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place [within the veil] until he comes out, so that he may make atonement for himself (his own sins) and for his household and for all the congregation of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar [of burnt offering in the court] which is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on the altar of burnt offering seven times and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites. “When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place and the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat [the scapegoat, the sin-bearer], and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is prepared [for the task]. The goat shall carry on itself all their (the Israelites) wickedness, carrying them to a solitary (infertile) land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. “Then Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place (Holy of Holies), and shall leave them there. He shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes, and come out and offer his burnt offering and that of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. And he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. The man who released the goat as the [sin-bearing] scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place (Holy of Holies), shall be taken outside the camp; their skins, their meat, and their waste shall be burned in the fire. Then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, and afterward he may come into the camp. “This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month (nearly October) on the tenth day of the month you shall humble yourselves [by fasting] and not do any work, whether the native-born or the stranger who lives temporarily among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve and minister as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall wear the holy linen garments, and make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting, and for the altar [of burnt offering in the court]. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. This shall be a permanent statute for you, so that atonement may be made for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year.” So he did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

but into the second [inner tabernacle, the Holy of Holies], only the high priest enters [and then only] once a year, and never without [bringing a sacrifice of] blood, which he offers [as a substitutionary atonement] for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life [which it represents].’

The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner courtyard. You shall do this on the seventh [day] of the month for everyone who goes astray [and sins through error or ignorance] and for him who is naive; so shall you make atonement for the temple (house).

In fact under the Law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [neither release from sin and its guilt, nor cancellation of the merited punishment].

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.

Moses said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and present your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people; and present the offering of the people and make atonement for them, just as the Lord has commanded.”

The guilt offering is like the sin offering, there is one law for [both of] them: the priest who makes atonement with it shall have it for himself.

Then Aaron presented the people’s offering. He took the goat for the sin offering of the people, and killed it and offered it for sin, as he did the first.

“Why did you not eat the sin offering in the holy place? For it is most holy; and God gave it to you to remove the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord. Behold, its blood was not brought into the Holy Place; you certainly should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary, just as I commanded.”

The priest shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering and make atonement for him concerning his sin because of the [dead] body. He shall consecrate his head the same day,

and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who gives birth to a child, whether a male or a female child. If she cannot afford a lamb then she shall take two turtledoves or young pigeons, one as a burnt offering, the other as a sin offering; the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”

‘But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons as his guilt offering for his sin to the Lord, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering, and shall nip its head at the front of its neck, but shall not sever it [completely]. He shall also sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering. read more.
The second [bird] he shall prepare as a burnt offering, according to the ordinance. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for the sin which he has committed, and it will be forgiven him. ‘But if he cannot afford to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for his sin the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering; he shall not put [olive] oil or incense on it, for it is a sin offering. He shall bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful of it as a memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar, with the offerings by fire to the Lord; it is a sin offering. In this way the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed in one of these things, and it will be forgiven him; then the rest shall be for the priest, like the grain offering.’”

“But if the cleansed leper is poor and his means are insufficient, then he is to take one lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a log of oil, and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he can afford, one shall be a sin offering, the other a burnt offering. He shall bring them on the eighth day for his [ceremonial] cleansing to the priest at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, before the Lord. read more.
The priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering, and the log of oil, and shall present them as a wave offering before the Lord. Next he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. The priest shall pour some of the oil into his left palm, and with his right finger the priest shall sprinkle some of the oil that is in his left palm seven times before the Lord. The priest shall put some of the oil in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the places where he has put the blood of the guilt offering. The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm shall be put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord. Then he shall offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, which are within his means. He shall offer what he can afford, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. The priest shall make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the one to be cleansed. This is the law for the one in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose means are limited for his [ceremonial] cleansing.”

“You shall take the ram of the ordination and boil its meat in a holy place. Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram and the bread in the basket, at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. They shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy [that is, set apart to the worship of God].

Then he brought the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull. Next Moses killed it and took the blood and with his finger put some of it around on the horns of the altar and purified it [from sin]. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it, to make atonement for it.

Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, then you are to offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. Then they brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them [to symbolize the transference of their sin]. read more.
The priests slaughtered them and cleansed the altar from sin with their blood to atone for all Israel, because the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.

They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and, as a sin offering for all Israel, 12 male goats, according to the number of Israel’s tribes.

‘When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting a one year old lamb as a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering; and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who gives birth to a child, whether a male or a female child.

Next the priest shall offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness, and afterward kill the burnt offering. The priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

‘When the man with the discharge becomes cleansed from his discharge, he shall count off seven days for his purification; he shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water and will become clean. On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest; and the priest shall offer them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for the man before the Lord because of his discharge.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Tell the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed. You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. read more.
Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of it toward the front of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) seven times. Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its waste, shall be burned (reduced to ash). The priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet [material] and cast them into the midst of the burning heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; and afterward come into the camp, but he shall be [ceremonially] unclean until evening. The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and shall be unclean until evening. Now a man who is [ceremonially] clean shall collect the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and the congregation of the Israelites shall keep it for water to remove impurity; it is [to be used for] purification from sin. The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. This shall be a perpetual statute to the Israelites and to the stranger who lives as a resident alien among them. ‘The one who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean for seven days. That one shall purify himself from uncleanness with the water [made with the ashes of the burned heifer] on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. Whoever touches a corpse, the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from Israel [that is, excluded from the atonement made for them]. Because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

And one male goat as a sin offering to the Lord; it shall be offered with its drink offering in addition to the continual burnt offering.

and one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you.

And He [that same Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins [the atoning sacrifice that holds back the wrath of God that would otherwise be directed at us because of our sinful nature—our worldliness, our lifestyle]; and not for ours alone, but also for [the sins of all believers throughout] the whole world.

For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to [that which] the Scriptures [foretold],

who gave Himself [as a sacrifice to atone] for our sins [to save and sanctify us] so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, in accordance with the will and purpose and plan of our God and Father—

The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority],

For indeed Christ died for sins once for all, the Just and Righteous for the unjust and unrighteous [the Innocent for the guilty] so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit;

whom God displayed publicly [before the eyes of the world] as a [life-giving] sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation (propitiation) by His blood [to be received] through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness [which demands punishment for sin], because in His forbearance [His deliberate restraint] He passed over the sins previously committed [before Jesus’ crucifixion].

Yet the Lord was willing
To crush Him, causing Him to suffer;
If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin],
He shall see His [spiritual] offspring,
He shall prolong His days,
And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand.

For what the Law could not do [that is, overcome sin and remove its penalty, its power] being weakened by the flesh [man’s nature without the Holy Spirit], God did: He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful man as an offering for sin. And He condemned sin in the flesh [subdued it and overcame it in the person of His own Son],

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath].

For if the sprinkling of [ceremonially] defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a [burnt] heifer is sufficient for the cleansing of the body, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal [Holy] Spirit willingly offered Himself unblemished [that is, without moral or spiritual imperfection as a sacrifice] to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the ever living God?

for this is My blood of the [new and better] covenant, which [ratifies the agreement and] is being poured out for many [as a substitutionary atonement] for the forgiveness of sins.

In Him we have redemption [that is, our deliverance and salvation] through His blood, [which paid the penalty for our sin and resulted in] the forgiveness and complete pardon of our sin, in accordance with the riches of His grace

but if we [really] walk in the Light [that is, live each and every day in conformity with the precepts of God], as He Himself is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another [He with us, and we with Him], and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin [by erasing the stain of sin, keeping us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful and trustworthy Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who [always] loves us and who [has once for all] freed us [or washed us] from our sins by His own blood (His sacrificial death)—

who has no day by day need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices, first of all for his own [personal] sins and then for those of the people, because He [met all the requirements and] did this once for all when He offered up Himself [as a willing sacrifice].

For the death that He died, He died to sin [ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt] once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to [glorify] God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].