Leviticus 4:2

4:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a person sins by straying unintentionally ¹  from any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, and violates any ²  one of them ³  –

Leviticus 4:14

4:14 the assembly must present a young bull for a sin offering when the sin they have committed ⁴  becomes known. They must bring it before the Meeting Tent,

Leviticus 4:22-23

For the Leader

4:22 “‘Whenever ⁵  a leader, by straying unintentionally, ⁶  sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be violated, ⁷  and he pleads guilty, 4:23 or his sin that he committed ⁸  is made known to him, ⁹  he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering. ¹⁰ 

Leviticus 4:27

For the Common Person

4:27 “‘If an ordinary individual ¹¹  sins by straying unintentionally ¹²  when he violates one of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, ¹³  and he pleads guilty

Leviticus 5:1

Additional Sin Offering Regulations

5:1 “‘When a person sins ¹⁴  in that he hears a public curse against one who fails to testify ¹⁵  and he is a witness (he either saw or knew what had happened ¹⁶ ) and he does not make it known, ¹⁷  then he will bear his punishment for iniquity. ¹⁸ 

Leviticus 5:10

5:10 The second bird ¹⁹  he must make a burnt offering according to the standard regulation. ²⁰  So the priest will make atonement ²¹  on behalf of this person for ²²  his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven. ²³ 

Leviticus 5:13

5:13 So the priest will make atonement ²⁴  on his behalf for his sin which he has committed by doing one of these things, ²⁵  and he will be forgiven. ²⁶  The remainder of the offering ²⁷  will belong to the priest like the grain offering.’” ²⁸ 

Leviticus 5:17

Unknown trespass

5:17 “If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated ²⁹  (although he did not know it at the time, ³⁰  but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity ³¹ 

Leviticus 6:3

6:3 or has found something lost and denies it and swears falsely ³²  concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin ³³  –

Leviticus 9:15

The Offerings for the People

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 ³⁴  like the first one. ³⁵ 

Leviticus 14:52

14:52 So he is to decontaminate the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the live bird, the piece of cedar wood, the twigs of hyssop, and the scrap of crimson fabric,

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “And a person, when he sins in straying.” The English translation of “by straying” (בִּשְׁגָגָה [bishgagah] literally, “in going astray; in making an error”) varies greatly, but almost all suggest that this term refers to sins that were committed by mistake or done not knowing that the particular act was sinful (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:228-29). See, e.g., LXX “involuntarily”; Tg. Onq. “by neglect”; KJV “through ignorance”; ASV, RSV, NJPS “unwittingly”; NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “unintentionally”; NAB, NEB “inadvertently”; NCV “by accident.” However, we know from Num 15:27-31 that committing a sin “by straying” is the opposite of committing a sin “defiantly” (i.e., בְּיַד רָמָה [bÿyad ramah] “with a raised hand,” v. 30). In the latter case the person, as it were, raises his fist in presumptuous defiance against the Lord. Thus, he “blasphemes” the Lord and has “despised” his word, for which he should be “cut off from among his people” (Num 15:30-31). One could not bring an offering for such a sin. The expression here in Lev 4:2 combines “by straying” with the preposition “from” which fits naturally with “straying” (i.e., “straying from” the Lord’s commandments). For sins committed “by straying” from the commandments (Lev 4 throughout) or other types of transgressions (Lev 5:1-6) there was indeed forgiveness available through the sin offering. See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:94-95.

[4:2]  ² tn This is an emphatic use of the preposition מִן (min; see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 56-57, §325).

[4:2]  ³ tn The “when” clause (כִּי, ki) breaks off here before its resolution, thus creating an open-ended introduction to the following subsections, which are introduced by “if” (אִם [’im] vv. 3, 13, 27, 32). Also, the last part of the verse reads literally, “which must not be done and does from one from them.”

[4:14]  ⁴ 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).

[4:22]  ⁷ tn This section begins with the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher) which usually means “who” or “which,” but here means “whenever.”

[4:22]  ⁸ tn See the Lev 4:2 note on “straying.”

[4:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “and does one from all the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be done”; cf. NRSV “ought not to be done”; NIV “does what is forbidden in any of the commands.”

[4:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned in it is made known to him”; NAB “if he learns of the sin he committed.”

[4:23]  ¹¹ 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.

[4:23]  ¹² tn Heb “a he-goat of goats, a male without defect”; cf. NLT “with no physical defects.”

[4:27]  ¹³ 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.”

[4:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “If one person sins by straying, from the people of the land.” See Lev 4:2 for a note on “straying.”

[4:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “by doing it, one from the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

[5:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And a person when he sins.” Most English versions translate this as the protasis of a conditional clause: “if a person sins” (NASB, NIV).

[5:1]  ¹⁷ tn The words “against one who fails to testify” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied to make sense of the remark about the “curse” (“imprecation” or “oath”; cf. ASV “adjuration”; NIV “public charge”) for the modern reader. For the interpretation of this verse reflected in the present translation see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:292-97.

[5:1]  ¹⁸ tn The words “what had happened” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[5:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and hears a voice of curse, and he is a witness or he saw or he knew, if he does not declare.”

[5:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he shall bear his iniquity.” The rendering “bear the punishment (for the iniquity)” reflects the use of the word “iniquity” to refer to the punishment for iniquity (cf. NRSV, NLT “subject to punishment”). It is sometimes referred to as the consequential use of the term (cf. Lev 5:17; 7:18; 10:17; etc.).

[5:10]  ¹⁹ tn The word “bird” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:10]  ²⁰ sn The term “[standard] regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishppat) here refers to the set of regulations for burnt offering birds in Lev 1:14-17.

[5:10]  ²¹ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[5:10]  ²² tn See the note on 4:26 with regard to מִן, min.

[5:10]  ²³ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[5:13]  ²² sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[5:13]  ²³ tn Heb “from one from these,” referring to the four kinds of violations of the law delineated in Lev 5:1-4 (see the note on Lev 5:5 above and cf. Lev 4:27).

[5:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[5:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and it”; the referent (the remaining portion of the offering) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and it shall be to the priest like the grain offering,” referring to the rest of the grain that was not offered on the altar (cf. the regulations in Lev 2:3, 10).

[5:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and does one from all of the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

[5:17]  ²⁶ tn The words “at the time” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[5:17]  ²⁷ tn 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.

[6:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and swears on falsehood”; cf. CEV “deny something while under oath.”

[6:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “on one from all which the man shall do to sin in them.”

[9:15]  ³¹ 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).

[9:15]  ³² 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.