Text -- Leviticus 6:1-4 (NET)

Trespass by Deception and False Oath

6:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 6:2 “When a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by deceiving his fellow citizen in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen, 6:3 or has found something lost and denies it and swears falsely concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin– 6:4 when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, or the lost thing that he had found,

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Lev 6:1

¹ sn Beginning with 6:1, the verse numbers through 6:30 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 6:1 ET = 5:20 HT, 6:2 ET = 5:21 HT, 6:8 ET = 6:1 HT, etc., through 6:30 ET = 6:23 HT. Beginning with 7:1 the verse numbers in the English text and Hebrew text are again the same.

² sn This paragraph is Lev 6:1-7 in the English Bible but Lev 5:20-26 in the Hebrew text. The quotation introduced by v. 1 extends from Lev 6:2 (5:21 HT) through 6:7 (5:26 HT), encompassing the third main section of guilt offering regulations. Compare the notes on Lev 1:1; 4:1; and 5:14 above.

NET Notes: Lev 6:2

¹ tn Heb “trespasses a trespass” (verb and direct object from the same Hebrew root מַעַל, ma’al). See the note on 5:15.

² tn Or “neighbor” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NASB “companion”; TEV “a fellow-Israelite.”

³ tn Heb “has extorted his neighbor”; ASV “oppressed”; NRSV “defrauded.”

NET Notes: Lev 6:3

¹ tn Heb “and swears on falsehood”; cf. CEV “deny something while under oath.”

² tn Heb “on one from all which the man shall do to sin in them.”

NET Notes: Lev 6:4

¹ tn Heb “and it shall happen, when he sins and becomes guilty,” which is both resumptive of the previous (vv. 2-3) and the conclusion to the protasis (cf. “then” introducing the next clause as the apodosis). In this case, “becomes guilty” (cf. NASB, NIV) probably refers to his legal status as one who has been convicted of a crime in court; thus the translation “he is found guilty.” See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:559-61.

² tn Heb “that had been held in trust with him.”