The LORD instructed Moses on how to consecrate Aaron and his sons for the priesthood. The ceremony required specific animals and bread offerings to be prepared in advance: a young bullock, two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, cakes mixed with oil, and wafers anointed with oil, all made from wheat flour. These were to be placed in a basket and presented at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Moses was then directed to bring Aaron and his sons to the tabernacle door and wash them with water. He was to dress Aaron in the priestly garments — the coat, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself, the breastplate, and the curious girdle of the ephod — and place the mitre on his head with the holy crown attached. Aaron's sons were also to be clothed with coats, girdles, and bonnets. This act of dressing them in their garments constituted an anointing and consecration to the priesthood.

The first animal sacrifice was the bullock, offered as a sin offering. Aaron and his sons were to lay their hands on its head at the tabernacle door, after which Moses would slay it. Moses was to take some of the bullock's blood and put it on the horns of the altar with his finger, pouring the rest at the base of the altar. The fat, the caul over the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat were to be burned on the altar, while the flesh, skin, and dung of the bullock were to be burned outside the camp, as it was a sin offering.

The first ram was then to be offered as a burnt offering. Aaron and his sons would lay their hands on its head before it was slain, and its blood was to be sprinkled around the altar. The ram was to be cut into pieces, with its head, pieces, and fat washed and then burned entirely on the altar. This was described as a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

The second ram served as the ram of consecration. After Aaron and his sons laid their hands on it and it was slain, Moses was to take some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot, and likewise for each of Aaron's sons. The remaining blood was to be sprinkled on the altar. Moses was then to take of the blood from the altar and the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his sons and their garments, consecrating them and their garments together.

Following this, Moses was to take the fat portions of the ram, the rump, the fat covering the inwards, the caul of the liver, the two kidneys with their fat, and the right shoulder. From the basket of unleavened bread, he was to add one loaf, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and place all of these into the hands of Aaron and his sons to be waved before the Lord as a wave offering. Moses would then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, a sweet savor before the Lord. The breast of the ram was also to be waved before the Lord and was Moses' portion as the officiating priest, while the heave shoulder belonged to Aaron and his sons as their due from the children of Israel in all future offerings.

The LORD then established the sacred garments of Aaron as a lasting inheritance. After Aaron's death, his garments were to be passed to his sons, who would wear them during their own seven-day anointing and consecration in the tabernacle. Each day of the consecration period, a bullock was to be offered as a sin offering to make atonement, and the altar itself was to be purified and anointed to make it most holy.

Following the seven days of consecration, the regular daily offerings were prescribed. Each morning and evening, a year-old lamb was to be offered on the altar as a continual burnt offering, accompanied by a tenth deal of flour mingled with beaten oil and a fourth part of a hin of wine as a drink offering. These daily offerings were to be maintained throughout all generations at the door of the tabernacle, where the LORD promised to meet with Moses and with the children of Israel. The LORD declared that He would sanctify the tabernacle and the altar, and He would dwell among the Israelites as their God.