Leviticus 5:19

5:19 It is a guilt offering; he was surely guilty before the Lord.”

Leviticus 26:40

26:40 However, when ¹  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ²  by which they also walked ³  in hostility against me ⁴ 

Numbers 5:6

5:6 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When ⁵  a man or a woman commits any sin that people commit, ⁶  thereby breaking faith ⁷  with the Lord, and that person is found guilty, ⁸ 

Numbers 5:1

Separation of the Unclean

5:1 ⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 21:3

21:3 The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, ¹⁰  and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called ¹¹  Hormah.

Numbers 21:2

21:2 So Israel made a vow ¹²  to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver ¹³  this people into our ¹⁴  hand, then we will utterly destroy ¹⁵  their cities.”

Numbers 26:18

26:18 These were the families of the Gadites according to those numbered of them, 40,500. ¹⁶ 

Numbers 28:13

28:13 and one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering for a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

Ezra 9:2

9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹⁷  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Ezra 9:15

9:15 O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt ¹⁸  no one can really stand before you.”

Matthew 6:14-15

6:14 “For if you forgive others ¹⁹  their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 6:15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.

¹ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

² tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

³ tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

⁴ tn Heb “with me.”

⁵ sn This type of law is known as casuistic. The law is introduced with “when/if” and then the procedure to be adopted follows it. The type of law was common in the Law Code of Hammurabi.

⁶ tn The verse simply says “any sin of a man,” but the genitive could mean that it is any sin that a man would commit (subjective genitive), or one committed against a man (objective genitive). Because of the similarity with Lev 5:22, the subjective is better. The sin is essentially “missing the mark” which is the standard of the Law of the Lord. The sin is not in this case accidental or inadvertent. It means here simply failing to live up to the standard of the Lord. Since both men and women are mentioned in the preceding clause, the translation uses “people” here.

⁷ tn The verb is מַעַל (ma’al), which means to “defraud, violate, trespass against,” or “to deal treacherously, do an act of treachery.” In doing any sin that people do, the guilty have been unfaithful to the Lord, and therefore must bring him a sacrifice.

⁸ tn The word used here for this violation is אָשָׁם (’asham). It can be translated “guilt, to be guilty”; it can also be used for the reparation offering. The basic assumption here is that the individual is in a state of sin – is guilty. In that state he or she feels remorse for the sin and seeks forgiveness through repentance. See further P. P. Saydon, “Sin Offering and Trespass Offering,” CBQ 8 (1946): 393-98; H. C. Thompson, “The Significance of the Term ’Asham in the Old Testament,” TGUOS 14 (1953): 20-26.

⁹ sn The fifth chapter falls into four main parts: separation of the unclean (vv. 1-4), restitution for sin (vv. 5-10), the jealousy ordeal (vv. 11-28), and the summary (vv. 29-31). There is a good deal of literature on the biblical theme of holiness (for which see the notes on Leviticus primarily). But with regard to this chapter, see (with caution), Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger; J. Neusner, The Idea of Purity in Ancient Judaism; and K. Milgrom, “Two Kinds of h£at£t£a„át,” VT 26 (1976): 333-37.

¹⁰ tc Smr, Greek, and Syriac add “into his hand.”

¹¹ tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject, and so here too is made passive. The name “Hormah” is etymologically connected to the verb “utterly destroy,” forming the popular etymology (or paronomasia, a phonetic wordplay capturing the significance of the event).

¹² tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative with the verb: They vowed a vow. The Israelites were therefore determined with God’s help to defeat Arad.

¹³ tn The Hebrew text has the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of נָתַן (natan) to stress the point – if you will surely/indeed give.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “my.”

¹⁵ tn On the surface this does not sound like much of a vow. But the key is in the use of the verb for “utterly destroy” – חָרַם (kharam). Whatever was put to this “ban” or “devotion” belonged to God, either for his use, or for destruction. The oath was in fact saying that they would take nothing from this for themselves. It would simply be the removal of what was alien to the faith, or to God’s program.

¹⁶ sn The Gadites decreased from 45,650 to 40,500.

¹⁷ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

¹⁸ tn Heb “this”; the referent (the guilt mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense: “people, others.”