Numbers 15:30

Deliberate Sin

15:30 “‘But the person¹ who acts defiantly,² whether native-born or a resident foreigner, insults³ the Lord.⁴ That person⁵ must be cut off⁶ from among his people.

Leviticus 5:3

5:3 or when he touches human uncleanness with regard to anything by which he can become unclean,⁷ even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty;

Leviticus 5:6

5:6 and he must bring his penalty for guilt⁸ to the Lord for his sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, whether a female sheep or a female goat, for a sin offering. So the priest will make atonement⁹ on his behalf for¹⁰ his sin.

Leviticus 5:17

Unknown trespass

5:17 “If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated¹¹ (although he did not know it at the time,¹² but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity¹³

Leviticus 15:31

Summary of Purification Regulations for Bodily Discharges

15:31 “‘Thus you¹⁴ are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they¹⁵ do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst.

Hebrews 2:2-3

2:2 For if the message spoken through angels¹⁶ proved to be so firm that every violation¹⁷ or disobedience received its just penalty, 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,

Hebrews 10:29

10:29 How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for¹⁸ the Son of God, and profanes¹⁹ the blood of the covenant that made him holy,²⁰ and insults the Spirit of grace?

Revelation 21:8

21:8 But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells,²¹ idol worshipers,²² and all those who lie, their place²³ will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.²⁴ That²⁵ is the second death.”

Revelation 22:11

22:11 The evildoer must continue to do evil,²⁶ and the one who is morally filthy²⁷ must continue to be filthy. The²⁸ one who is righteous must continue to act righteously, and the one who is holy must continue to be holy.”

Revelation 22:15

22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers²⁹ and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood!³⁰

¹tn Heb “soul.”

²tn The sin is described literally as acting “with a high hand” – בְּיָד רָמָה (bÿyad ramah). The expression means that someone would do something with deliberate defiance, with an arrogance in spite of what the Lord said. It is as if the sinner was about to attack God, or at least lifting his hand against God. The implication of the expression is that it was done in full knowledge of the Law (especially since this contrasts throughout with the sins of ignorance). Blatant defiance of the word of the Lord is dealt with differently. For similar expressions, see Exod 14:8 and Num 33:3.

³tn The verb occurs only in the Piel; it means “to blaspheme,” “to revile.”

⁴tn The word order in the Hebrew text places “Yahweh” first for emphasis – it is the Lord such a person insults.

⁵tn Heb “soul.”

⁶tn The clause begins with “and” because the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. As discussed with Num 9:13, to be cut off could mean excommunication from the community, death by the community, or death by divine intervention.

⁷tn Heb “or if he touches uncleanness of mankind to any of his uncleanness which he becomes unclean in it.”

⁸tn In this context the word for “guilt” (אָשָׁם, ’asham) refers to the “penalty” for incurring guilt, the so-called consequential אָשָׁם (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:303; cf. the note on Lev 5:1).

⁹sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

¹⁰tn See the note on 4:26 regarding the use of מִן (min).

¹¹tn Heb “and does one from all of the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

¹²tn The words “at the time” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

¹³tn Heb “and he did not know, and he shall be guilty and he shall bear his iniquity” (for the rendering “bear his punishment [for iniquity]”) see the note on Lev 5:1.) This portion of v. 17 is especially difficult. The translation offered here suggests (as in many other English versions) that the offender did not originally know that he had violated the Lord’s commandments, but then came to know it and dealt with it accordingly (cf. the corresponding sin offering section in Lev 5:1-4). Another possibility is that it refers to a situation where a person suspects that he violated something although he does not recollect it. Thus, he brings a guilt offering for his suspected violation (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:331-34, 361-63). See also R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:561-62.

¹⁴tn Heb “And you shall.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV).

¹⁵tn Heb “and they.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) indicates a negative purpose (“lest,” so NAB, NASB).

¹⁶sn The message spoken through angels refers to the OT law, which according to Jewish tradition was mediated to Moses through angels (cf. Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17-18; Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; and Jub. 1:27, 29; Josephus, Ant. 15.5.3 [15.136]).

¹⁷tn Grk “through angels became valid and every violation.”

¹⁸tn Grk “tramples under foot.”

¹⁹tn Grk “regarded as common.”

²⁰tn Grk “by which he was made holy.”

²¹tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”

²²tn Grk “idolaters.”

²³tn Grk “their share.”

²⁴tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

²⁵tn Grk “sulfur, which is.” The relative pronoun has been translated as “that” to indicate its connection to the previous clause. The nearest logical antecedent is “the lake [that burns with fire and sulfur],” although “lake” (λίμνη, limnh) is feminine gender, while the pronoun “which” (ὅ, Jo) is neuter gender. This means that (1) the proper antecedent could be “their place” (Grk “their share,”) agreeing with the relative pronoun in number and gender, or (2) the neuter pronoun still has as its antecedent the feminine noun “lake,” since agreement in gender between pronoun and antecedent was not always maintained, with an explanatory phrase occurring with a neuter pronoun regardless of the case of the antecedent. In favor of the latter explanation is Rev 20:14, where the phrase “the lake of fire” is in apposition to the phrase “the second death.”

²⁶tn Grk “must do evil still.”

²⁷tn For this translation see L&N 88.258; the term refers to living in moral filth.

²⁸tn Grk “filthy, and the.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek, but because of the length and complexity of the construction a new sentence was started in the translation.

²⁹tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.

³⁰tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”