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 4:20

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. ⁴  So the priest will make atonement ⁵  on their behalf and they will be forgiven. ⁶ 

Leviticus 4:22

For the Leader

4:22 “‘Whenever ⁷  a leader, by straying unintentionally, ⁸  sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be violated, ⁹  and he pleads guilty,

Leviticus 15:15

15:15 and the priest is to make one of them a sin offering ¹⁰  and the other a burnt offering. ¹¹  So the priest ¹²  is to make atonement for him before the Lord for ¹³  his discharge.

Leviticus 15:30

15:30 and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. ¹⁴  So the priest ¹⁵  is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity.

[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.”

[4:20]  ⁴ sn Cf. Lev 4:11-12 above for the disposition of “the [rest of] the bull.”

[4:20]  ⁵ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[4:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to them” or “it shall be forgiven to them.”

[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.”

[15:15]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”

[15:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the priest shall make them one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.” See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”

[15:15]  ¹² tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[15:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “from”; see the note on 4:26.

[15:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “And the priest shall make the one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.”

[15:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.