Leviticus 19:20-22

Lying with a Slave Woman

19:20 “‘When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, ¹  although she is a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an obligation to pay compensation. ²  They must not be put to death, because she was not free. 19:21 He must bring his guilt offering to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, a guilt offering ram, ³  19:22 and the priest is to make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, ⁴  and he will be forgiven ⁵  of his sin ⁶  that he has committed.

[19:20]  ¹ tn Heb “And a man when he lies with a woman the lying of seed.”

[19:20]  ² sn That is, the woman had previously been assigned for marriage to another man but the marriage deal had not yet been consummated. In the meantime, the woman has lost her virginity and has, therefore, lost part of her value to the master in the sale to the man for whom she had been designated. Compensation was, therefore, required (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 130-31).

[19:21]  ³ sn On the guilt offering see the note on Lev 5:15 above.

[19:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “on his sin which he has sinned.”

[19:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him.”

[19:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “from his sin.”