4:3 “‘If the high priest 3 sins so that the people are guilty, 4 on account of the sin he has committed he must present a flawless young bull to the Lord 5 for a sin offering. 6 4:4 He must bring the bull to the entrance of the Meeting Tent before the Lord, lay his hand on the head of the bull, and slaughter the bull before the Lord. 4:5 Then that high priest must take some of the blood 7 of the bull and bring it to the Meeting Tent. 4:6 The priest must dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle 8 some of it 9 seven times before the Lord toward 10 the front of the veil-canopy 11 of the sanctuary. 4:7 The priest must put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the Meeting Tent, and all the rest of the bull’s blood he must pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.
4:8 “‘Then he must take up all the fat from the sin offering bull: 12 the fat covering the entrails 13 and all the fat surrounding the entrails, 14 4:9 the two kidneys with the fat on their sinews, and the protruding lobe on the liver (which he is to remove along with the kidneys) 15 4:10 – just as it is taken from the ox of the peace offering sacrifice 16 – and the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering. 4:11 But the hide of the bull, all its flesh along with its head and its legs, its entrails, and its dung – 4:12 all the rest of the bull 17 – he must bring outside the camp 18 to a ceremonially clean place, 19 to the fatty ash pile, 20 and he must burn 21 it on a wood fire; it must be burned on the fatty ash pile.
4:13 “‘If the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally 22 and the matter is not noticed by 23 the assembly, and they violate one of the Lord’s commandments, which must not be violated, 24 so they become guilty, 4:14 the assembly must present a young bull for a sin offering when the sin they have committed 25 becomes known. They must bring it before the Meeting Tent, 4:15 the elders of the congregation must lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and someone must slaughter 26 the bull before the Lord. 4:16 Then the high priest 27 must bring some of the blood of the bull to the Meeting Tent, 4:17 and that priest must dip his finger in the blood 28 and sprinkle 29 some of the blood seven times 30 before the Lord toward 31 the front of the veil-canopy. 32 4:18 He must put some of the blood on the horns of the altar 33 which is before the Lord in the Meeting Tent, and all the rest of the blood he must pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.
4:19 “‘Then the priest 34 must take all its fat 35 and offer the fat 36 up in smoke on the altar. 4:20 He must do with the rest of the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; this is what he must do with it. 37 So the priest will make atonement 38 on their behalf and they will be forgiven. 39 4:21 He 40 must bring the rest of the bull outside the camp 41 and burn it just as he burned the first bull – it is the sin offering of the assembly.
4:22 “‘Whenever 42 a leader, by straying unintentionally, 43 sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be violated, 44 and he pleads guilty, 4:23 or his sin that he committed 45 is made known to him, 46 he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering. 47 4:24 He must lay his hand on the head of the male goat and slaughter 48 it in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord – it is a sin offering. 4:25 Then the priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. 4:26 Then the priest 49 must offer all of its fat up in smoke on the altar like the fat of the peace offering sacrifice. So the priest will make atonement 50 on his behalf for 51 his sin and he will be forgiven. 52
4:27 “‘If an ordinary individual 53 sins by straying unintentionally 54 when he violates one of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, 55 and he pleads guilty 4:28 or his sin that he committed 56 is made known to him, 57 he must bring a flawless female goat 58 as his offering for the sin 59 that he committed. 4:29 He must lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter 60 the sin offering in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 4:30 Then the priest must take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 4:31 Then he must remove all of its fat (just as fat was removed from the peace offering sacrifice) and the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar for a soothing aroma to the Lord. So the priest will make atonement 61 on his behalf and he will be forgiven. 62
4:32 “‘But if he brings a sheep as his offering, for a sin offering, he must bring a flawless female. 4:33 He must lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it for a sin offering in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 4:34 Then the priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 4:35 Then the one who brought the offering 63 must remove all its fat (just as the fat of the sheep is removed from the peace offering sacrifice) and the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar on top of the other gifts of the Lord. So the priest will make atonement 64 on his behalf for his sin which he has committed and he will be forgiven. 65
9:8 So Aaron approached the altar and slaughtered the sin offering calf which was for himself. 9:9 Then Aaron’s sons presented the blood to him and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar. 9:10 The fat and the kidneys and the protruding lobe of 67 the liver from the sin offering he offered up in smoke on the altar just as the Lord had commanded Moses, 9:11 but the flesh and the hide he completely burned up 68 outside the camp. 69
9:12 He then slaughtered the burnt offering, and his sons 70 handed 71 the blood to him and he splashed 72 it against the altar’s sides. 9:13 The burnt offering itself they handed 73 to him by its parts, including the head, 74 and he offered them up in smoke on the altar, 9:14 and he washed the entrails and the legs and offered them up in smoke on top of the burnt offering on the altar.
9:15 Then he presented the people’s offering. He took the sin offering male goat which was for the people, slaughtered it, and performed a decontamination rite with it 75 like the first one. 76 9:16 He then presented the burnt offering, and did it according to the standard regulation. 77 9:17 Next he presented the grain offering, filled his hand with some of it, and offered it up in smoke on the altar in addition to the morning burnt offering. 78 9:18 Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram – the peace offering sacrifices which were for the people – and Aaron’s sons handed 79 the blood to him and he splashed it against the altar’s sides. 9:19 As for the fat parts from the ox and from the ram 80 (the fatty tail, the fat covering the entrails, 81 the kidneys, and the protruding lobe of the liver), 9:20 they 82 set those on the breasts and he offered the fat parts up in smoke on the altar. 9:21 Finally Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before the Lord just as Moses had commanded.
9:22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them and descended from making the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering. 9:23 Moses and Aaron then entered into the Meeting Tent. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 9:24 Then fire went out from the presence of the Lord 83 and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar, and all the people saw it, so they shouted loudly and fell down with their faces to the ground. 84
16:11 “Aaron is to present the sin offering bull which is for himself, and he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. He is to slaughter the sin offering bull which is for himself,
1 tn Grk “the second tent.”
2 tn Or perhaps “the unintentional sins of the people”; Grk “the ignorances of the people.” Cf. BDAG 13 s.v. ἀγνόημα, “sin committed in ignorance/unintentionally.” This term seems to be simply a synonym for “sins” (cf. Heb 5:2) and does not pick up the distinction made in Num 15:22-31 between unwitting sin and “high-handed” sin. The Day of Atonement ritual in Lev 16 covered all the sins of the people, not just the unwitting ones.
3 tn Heb “the anointed priest” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the high priest (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).
4 tn Heb “to the guilt of the people”; NRSV “thus bringing guilt on the people.”
5 tn Heb “and he shall offer on his sin which he sinned, a bull, a son of the herd, flawless.”
6 sn The word for “sin offering” (sometimes translated “purification offering”) is the same as the word for “sin” earlier in the verse. One can tell which rendering is intended only by the context. The primary purpose of the “sin offering” (חַטָּאת, khatta’t) was to “purge” (כִּפֶּר, kipper, “to make atonement,” see 4:20, 26, 31, 35, and the notes on Lev 1:4 and esp. Lev 16:20, 33) the sanctuary or its furniture in order to cleanse it from any impurities and/or (re)consecrate it for holy purposes (see, e.g., Lev 8:15; 16:19). By making this atonement the impurities of the person or community were cleansed and the people became clean. See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:93-103.
7 tn Heb “from the blood of the bull” (and similarly throughout this chapter).
8 tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter.” Contrast the different Hebrew verb meaning “splash” in Lev 1:5 (זָרָק, zaraq).
9 tn Heb “of the blood.” The relative pronoun (“it”) has been used in the translation here for stylistic reasons.
10 tn The particle here translated “toward” usually serves as a direct object indicator or a preposition meaning “with.” With the verb of motion it probably means “toward,” “in the direction of” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:234; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 60); cf. NAB, CEV.
11 tn The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB) or “curtain” (e.g., NIV, NRSV), but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).
12 tn Heb “all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall take up from it.”
13 tc The MT has here the preposition עַל (’al, “on, upon” [i.e., “which covers on the entrails,” as awkward in Hebrew as it is in English]), but Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Targums read אֶת (’et), which is what would be expected (i.e., “which covers the entrails”; cf. Lev 3:3, 9, 14). It may have been mistakenly inserted here under the influence of “on (עַל) the entrails” at the end of the verse.
14 tn Heb “and all the fat on the entrails.” The fat layer that covers the entrails as a whole (i.e., “that covers the entrails”) is different from the fat that surrounds and adheres to the various organs (“on the entrails,” i.e., surrounding them; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:205-7).
15 tn Heb “and the protruding lobe on the liver on the kidneys he shall remove it.”
16 tn Heb “taken up from”; KJV, ASV “taken off from”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “removed.” See the notes on Lev 3:3-4 above (cf. also 3:9-10, 14-15).
17 tn All of v. 11 is a so-called casus pendens (also known as an extraposition or a nominative absolute), which means that it anticipates the next verse, being the full description of “all (the rest of) the bull” (lit. “all the bull”) at the beginning of v. 12 (actually after the first verb of the verse; see the next note below).
18 tn Heb “And he (the offerer) shall bring out all the bull to from outside to the camp to a clean place.”
19 tn Heb “a clean place,” but referring to a place that is ceremonially clean. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “the pouring out [place] of fatty ash.”
21 tn Heb “burn with fire.” This expression is somewhat redundant in English, so the translation collocates “fire” with “wood,” thus “a wood fire.”
22 tn Heb “strays”; KJV “sin through ignorance.” The verb “strays” here is the verbal form of the noun in the expression “by straying” (see the note on Lev 4:2 above).
23 tn Heb “is concealed from the eyes of”; NASB, NRSV, NLT “escapes the notice of.”
24 tn Heb “and they do one from all the commandments of the
25 tn Heb “and the sin which they committed on it becomes known”; KJV “which they have sinned against it.” The Hebrew עָלֶיהָ (’aleha, “on it”) probably refers back to “one of the commandments” in v. 13 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:243).
26 tn Heb “and he shall slaughter.” The singular verb seems to refer to an individual who represents the whole congregation, perhaps one of the elders referred to at the beginning of the verse, or the officiating priest (cf. v. 21). The LXX and Syriac make the verb plural, referring to “the elders of the congregation.”
27 tn Heb “the anointed priest” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the high priest (cf. TEV).
28 tn The words “in the blood” are not repeated in the Hebrew text at this point, but must be supplied in the English translation for clarity.
29 tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter.” Contrast the different Hebrew verb translated “splash” in Lev 1:5 (זָרָק, zaraq).
30 tc The MT reads literally, “and the priest shall dip his finger from the blood and sprinkle seven times.” This is awkward. Compare v. 6, which has literally, “and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle from the blood seven times.” The MT appears to be corrupt by haplography (i.e., assuming v. 6 to be the correct form, in v. 17 the scribe skipped from “his finger” to “from the blood,” thus missing “in the blood”) and metathesis (i.e., this also resulted in a text where “from the blood” stands before “sprinkle” rather than after it; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 47).
31 tn See the note on v. 6 above.
32 tn See the note on v. 6 above.
33 sn See v. 7, where this altar is identified as the altar of fragrant incense.
34 tn Heb “Then he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Based on the parallel statement in 4:10 and 4:31, it is the priest who performs this action rather than the person who brought the offering.
35 tn Heb “take up all its fat from it”; NASB “shall remove all its fat from it.”
36 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fat) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Only the fat is meant here, since the “rest” of the bull is mentioned in v. 21.
37 sn Cf. Lev 4:11-12 above for the disposition of “the [rest of] the bull.”
38 sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).
39 tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to them” or “it shall be forgiven to them.”
40 sn See the note on the word “slaughter” in v. 15.
41 tn Heb “And he shall bring out the bull to from outside to the camp.”
42 tn This section begins with the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher) which usually means “who” or “which,” but here means “whenever.”
43 tn See the Lev 4:2 note on “straying.”
44 tn Heb “and does one from all the commandments of the
45 tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned in it is made known to him”; NAB “if he learns of the sin he committed.”
46 tn Lev 4:22b-23a is difficult. The present translation suggests that there are two possible legal situations envisioned, separated by the Hebrew אוֹ (’o, “or”) at the beginning of v. 23. Lev 4:22b refers to any case in which the leader readily admits his guilt (i.e., “pleads guilty”), whereas v. 23a refers to cases where the leader is convicted of his guilt by legal action (“his sin…is made known to him”). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:95-96; Lev 4:27-28; and esp. the notes on Lev 5:1 below.
47 tn Heb “a he-goat of goats, a male without defect”; cf. NLT “with no physical defects.”
48 tn The LXX has a plural form here and also for the same verb later in the verse. See the note on Lev 1:5a.
49 tn Heb “Then he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Based on the parallel statements in 4:10 and 4:31, it is the priest who performs this action rather than the person who brought the offering.
50 sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).
51 tn Heb “from.” In this phrase the preposition מִן (min) may be referring to the reason or cause (“on account of, because of”; GKC 383 §119.z). As J. E. Hartley (Leviticus [WBC], 47) points out, “from” may refer to the removal of the sin, but is an awkward expression. Hartley also suggests that the phrasing might be “an elliptical expression for יְכַפֵּר עַל־לְטַהֵר אֶת־מִן, ‘he will make expiation for…to cleanse…from…,’ as in 16:30.”
52 tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).
53 tn Heb “an individual from the people of the land”; cf. NASB “anyone of the common people” (KJV, ASV both similar); NAB “a private person.”
54 tn Heb “If one person sins by straying, from the people of the land.” See Lev 4:2 for a note on “straying.”
55 tn Heb “by doing it, one from the commandments of the
56 tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned is made known to him”; cf. NCV “when that person learns about his sin.”
57 tn Lev 4:27b-28a is essentially the same as 4:22b-23a (see the notes there).
58 tn Heb “a she-goat of goats, a female without defect”; NAB “an unblemished she-goat.”
59 tn Heb “on his sin.”
60 tc The LXX has a plural form here (see v. 24 above and the note on Lev 1:5a).
61 sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).
62 tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).
63 tn Heb “Then he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here “he” refers to the offerer rather than the priest (contrast the clauses before and after).
64 sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).
65 tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).
66 tn Instead of “on behalf of the people,” the LXX has “on behalf of your house” as in the Hebrew text of Lev 16:6, 11, 17. Many commentaries follow the LXX here (e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:578; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 118) as do a few English versions (e.g., NAB), but others argue that, as on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16), the offerings of the priests also effected the people, even though there was still the need to have special offerings made on behalf of the people as reflected in the second half of the verse (e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 56).
67 tn Heb “from.”
68 tn Heb “he burned with fire,” an expression which is sometimes redundant in English, but here means “burned up,” “burned up entirely.”
69 sn See Lev 4:5-12 and the notes there regarding the sin offering for priest(s). The distinction here is that the blood of the sin offering for the priests was applied to the horns of the burnt offering altar in the court of the tabernacle, not the incense altar inside the tabernacle tent itself. See the notes on Lev 8:14-15.
70 tn For smoothness in the English translation, “his” was used in place of “Aaron’s.”
71 tn The verb is a Hiphil form of מָצָא, matsa’, “to find” (i.e., causative, literally “to cause to find,” but here the meaning is “to hand to” or “pass to”; see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 117-18, and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:581-82). The distinction between this verb and “presented” in v. 9 above (see the note there) is that in v. 9 Aaron’s sons held the bowl while Aaron manipulated some of the blood at the altar, while here in v. 12 they simply handed the bowl to him so he could splash all the blood around on the altar (Milgrom, 581).
72 tn For “splashed” (also in v. 18) see the note on Lev 1:5.
73 tn See the note on v. 12.
74 tn Heb “and the burnt offering they handed to him to its parts and the head.”
75 tn The expression “and performed a decontamination rite [with] it” reads literally in the MT, “and decontaminated [with] it.” The verb is the Piel of חטא (kht’, Qal = “to sin”), which means “to decontaminate, purify” (i.e., “to de-sin”; see the note on Lev 8:15).
76 sn The phrase “like the first one” at the end of the verse refers back to the sin offering for the priests described in vv. 8-11 above. The blood of the sin offering of the common people was applied to the burnt offering altar just like that of the priests.
77 tn The term “standard regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishpat) here refers to the set of regulations for burnt offering goats in Lev 1:10-13. Cf. KJV “according to the manner”; ASV, NASB “according to the ordinance”; NIV, NLT “in the prescribed way”; CEV “in the proper way.”
78 sn The latter part of the verse (“in addition to the morning burnt offering”) refers to the complex of morning (and evening) burnt and grain offerings that was the daily regulation for the tabernacle from the time of its erection (Exod 40:29). The regulations for it were appended to the end of the section of priestly consecration regulations in Exod 29 (see Exod 29:38-40) precisely because they were to be maintained throughout the priestly consecration period and beyond (Lev 8:33-36). Thus, the morning burnt and grain offerings would already have been placed on the altar before the inaugural burnt and grain offerings referred to here.
79 tn See the note on Lev 9:12.
80 tn Heb “And the fat from the ox and from the ram.”
81 tn The text here has only the participle “the cover” or “that which covers,” which is elliptical for “the fat which covers the entrails” (see Lev 3:3, 9, 14; 7:3).
82 tn The plural “they” refers to the sons of Aaron (cf. v. 18). The LXX, Smr, and Syriac have singular “he,” referring to Aaron alone as in the latter half of the verse (the singular is followed here by NLT). Cf. NCV “Aaron’s sons put them.”
83 tn Heb “from to the faces of the
84 tn Heb “fell on their faces.” Many English versions and commentaries render here “shouted for joy” (e.g., NIV; cf. NCV, NLT) or “shouted joyfully,” but the fact the people “fell on their faces” immediately afterward suggests that they were frightened as, for example, in Exod 19:16b; 20:18-21.