Leviticus 4:22--5:13

For the Leader

4:22 “‘Whenever ¹  a leader, by straying unintentionally, ²  sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be violated, ³  and he pleads guilty, 4:23 or his sin that he committed ⁴  is made known to him, ⁵  he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering. ⁶  4:24 He must lay his hand on the head of the male goat and slaughter ⁷  it in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord – it is a sin offering. 4:25 Then the priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. 4:26 Then the priest ⁸  must offer all of its fat up in smoke on the altar like the fat of the peace offering sacrifice. So the priest will make atonement ⁹  on his behalf for ¹⁰  his sin and he will be forgiven. ¹¹ 

For the Common Person

4:27 “‘If an ordinary individual ¹²  sins by straying unintentionally ¹³  when he violates one of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, ¹⁴  and he pleads guilty 4:28 or his sin that he committed ¹⁵  is made known to him, ¹⁶  he must bring a flawless female goat ¹⁷  as his offering for the sin ¹⁸  that he committed. 4:29 He must lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter ¹⁹  the sin offering in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 4:30 Then the priest must take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 4:31 Then he must remove all of its fat (just as fat was removed from the peace offering sacrifice) and the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar for a soothing aroma to the Lord. So the priest will make atonement ²⁰  on his behalf and he will be forgiven. ²¹ 

4:32 “‘But if he brings a sheep as his offering, for a sin offering, he must bring a flawless female. 4:33 He must lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it for a sin offering in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 4:34 Then the priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 4:35 Then the one who brought the offering ²²  must remove all its fat (just as the fat of the sheep is removed from the peace offering sacrifice) and the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar on top of the other gifts of the Lord. So the priest will make atonement ²³  on his behalf for his sin which he has committed and he will be forgiven. ²⁴ 

Additional Sin Offering Regulations

5:1 “‘When a person sins ²⁵  in that he hears a public curse against one who fails to testify ²⁶  and he is a witness (he either saw or knew what had happened ²⁷ ) and he does not make it known, ²⁸  then he will bear his punishment for iniquity. ²⁹  5:2 Or when there is ³⁰  a person who touches anything ceremonially ³¹  unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, even if he did not realize it, ³²  but he himself has become unclean and is guilty; ³³  5:3 or when he touches human uncleanness with regard to anything by which he can become unclean, ³⁴  even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty; 5:4 or when a person swears an oath, speaking thoughtlessly ³⁵  with his lips, whether to do evil or to do good, with regard to anything which the individual might speak thoughtlessly in an oath, even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty with regard to one of these oaths ³⁶  – 5:5 when an individual becomes guilty with regard to one of these things ³⁷  he must confess how he has sinned, ³⁸  5:6 and he must bring his penalty for guilt ³⁹  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 atonement ⁴⁰  on his behalf for ⁴¹  his sin.

5:7 “‘If he cannot afford an animal from the flock, ⁴²  he must bring his penalty for guilt for his sin that he has committed, ⁴³  two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ⁴⁴  to the Lord, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. 5:8 He must bring them to the priest and present first the one that is for a sin offering. The priest ⁴⁵  must pinch ⁴⁶  its head at the nape of its neck, but must not sever the head from the body. ⁴⁷  5:9 Then he must sprinkle ⁴⁸  some of the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar, and the remainder of the blood ⁴⁹  must be squeezed out at the base of the altar – it is a sin offering. 5:10 The second bird ⁵⁰  he must make a burnt offering according to the standard regulation. ⁵¹  So the priest will make atonement ⁵²  on behalf of this person for ⁵³  his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven. ⁵⁴ 

5:11 “‘If he cannot afford ⁵⁵  two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ⁵⁶  he must bring as his offering for his sin which he has committed ⁵⁷  a tenth of an ephah ⁵⁸  of choice wheat flour ⁵⁹  for a sin offering. He must not place olive oil on it and he must not put frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering. 5:12 He must bring it to the priest and the priest must scoop out from it a handful as its memorial portion ⁶⁰  and offer it up in smoke on the altar on top of the other gifts of the Lord – it is a sin offering. 5:13 So the priest will make atonement ⁶¹  on his behalf for his sin which he has committed by doing one of these things, ⁶²  and he will be forgiven. ⁶³  The remainder of the offering ⁶⁴  will belong to the priest like the grain offering.’” ⁶⁵ 

[4:22]  ¹ tn This section begins with the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher) which usually means “who” or “which,” but here means “whenever.”

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

[4:22]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “a he-goat of goats, a male without defect”; cf. NLT “with no physical defects.”

[4:24]  ⁷ tn The LXX has a plural form here and also for the same verb later in the verse. See the note on Lev 1:5a.

[4:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Then he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Based on the parallel statements in 4:10 and 4:31, it is the priest who performs this action rather than the person who brought the offering.

[4:26]  ¹¹ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[4:26]  ¹² tn Heb “from.” In this phrase the preposition מִן (min) may be referring to the reason or cause (“on account of, because of”; GKC 383 §119.z). As J. E. Hartley (Leviticus [WBC], 47) points out, “from” may refer to the removal of the sin, but is an awkward expression. Hartley also suggests that the phrasing might be “an elliptical expression for יְכַפֵּר עַל־לְטַהֵר אֶת־מִן, ‘he will make expiation for…to cleanse…from…,’ as in 16:30.”

[4:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[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.”

[4:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned is made known to him”; cf. NCV “when that person learns about his sin.”

[4:28]  ¹⁷ tn Lev 4:27b-28a is essentially the same as 4:22b-23a (see the notes there).

[4:28]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a she-goat of goats, a female without defect”; NAB “an unblemished she-goat.”

[4:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “on his sin.”

[4:29]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX has a plural form here (see v. 24 above and the note on Lev 1:5a).

[4:31]  ²² sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[4:31]  ²³ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[4:35]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Then he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here “he” refers to the offerer rather than the priest (contrast the clauses before and after).

[4:35]  ²⁶ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[4:35]  ²⁷ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[5:1]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn The words “what had happened” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[5:1]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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.).

[5:2]  ³¹ tc The insertion of the words “when there is” is a reflection of the few Hebrew mss, Smr, and LXX that have כִּי (ki, “when, if”; cf. vv. 3 and esp. 4) rather than the MT’s אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who”). Many English versions render this as a conditional clause (“if”).

[5:2]  ³² tn The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the uncleanness involved is ritual or ceremonial in nature.

[5:2]  ³³ tn Heb “and it is hidden from him,” meaning that the person who contracted the ceremonial uncleanness was not aware at the time what had happened, but later found out that he had become ceremonially unclean. This same phrase occurs again in both vv. 3 and 4.

[5:2]  ³⁴ sn Lev 5:2-3 are parallel laws of uncleanness (contracted from animals and people, respectively), and both seem to assume that the contraction of uncleanness was originally unknown to the person (vv. 2 and 3) but became known to him or her at a later time (v. 3; i.e., “has come to know” in v. 3 is to be assumed for v. 2 as well). Uncleanness itself did not make a person “guilty” unless he or she failed to handle it according to the normal purification regulations (see, e.g., “wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening,” Lev 15:5 NIV; cf. Lev 11:39-40; 15:5-12, 16-24; Num 19, etc.). The problem here in Lev 5:2-3 is that, because the person had not been aware of his or her uncleanness, he or she had incurred guilt for not carrying out these regular procedures, and it would now be too late for that. Thus, the unclean person needs to bring a sin offering to atone for the contamination caused by his or her neglect of the purity regulations.

[5:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “or if he touches uncleanness of mankind to any of his uncleanness which he becomes unclean in it.”

[5:4]  ³⁷ tn Heb “to speak thoughtlessly”; cf. NAB “rashly utters an oath.”

[5:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and is guilty to one from these,” probably referring here to any of “these” things about which one might swear a thoughtless oath (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 45), with the word “oath” supplied in the translation for clarity. Another possibility is that “to one from these” is a dittography from v. 5 (cf. the note on v. 5a), and that v. 4 ends with “and is guilty” like vv. 2 and 3 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:300).

[5:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and it shall happen when he becomes guilty to one from these,” referring to any of “these” possible transgressions in Lev 5:1-4. Tg. Onq., the original Greek translation, and the Latin Vulgate omit this clause, possibly due to homoioteleuton because of the repetition of “to one from these” from the end of v. 4 in v. 5a (cf. the note on v. 4b).

[5:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “which he sinned on it”; cf. ASV “confess that wherein he hath sinned”; NCV “must tell how he sinned.”

[5:6]  ⁴³ tn 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).

[5:6]  ⁴⁴ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[5:6]  ⁴⁵ tn See the note on 4:26 regarding the use of מִן (min).

[5:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and if his hand does not reach enough of a flock animal” (see the note on v. 11 below). The term translated “animal from the flock” (שֶׂה, seh) is often translated “lamb” (e.g., KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV) or “sheep” (e.g., NRSV, TEV, NLT), but it clearly includes either a sheep or a goat here (cf. v. 6), referring to the smaller pasture animals as opposed to the larger ones (i.e., cattle; cf. 4:3). Some English versions use the more generic “animal” (e.g., NAB, CEV).

[5:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and he shall bring his guilt which he sinned,” which is an abbreviated form of Lev 5:6, “and he shall bring his [penalty for] guilt to the Lord for his sin which he committed.” The words “for his sin” have been left out in v. 7, and “to the Lord” has been moved so that it follows the mention of the birds.

[5:7]  ⁴⁸ tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above.

[5:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “he.” The subject (“he”) refers to the priest here, not the offerer who presented the birds to the priest (cf. v. 8a).

[5:8]  ⁵⁰ sn The action seems to involve both a twisting action, breaking the neck of the bird and severing its vertebrae, as well as pinching or nipping the skin, but in this case not severing the head from the main body (note the rest of this verse).

[5:8]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “he shall not divide [it]” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:305).

[5:9]  ⁵² tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter” (cf. Lev 4:6, 17). Contrast “splash” in Lev 1:5, etc. (זָרָק, zaraq).

[5:9]  ⁵³ tn Heb “the remainder in the blood.” The Heb. preposition “in” (בְּ, bÿ) is used here to mean “some among” a whole collection of something.

[5:10]  ⁵⁵ tn The word “bird” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:10]  ⁵⁶ 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]  ⁵⁷ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[5:10]  ⁵⁸ tn See the note on 4:26 with regard to מִן, min.

[5:10]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[5:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “and if his hand does not reach [or is not sufficient] to”; cf. NASB “if his means are insufficient for.” The expression is the same as that in Lev 5:7 above except for the verb: נָשַׂג (nasag, “to collect, to reach, to be sufficient”) is used here, but נָגַע (nagah, “to touch, to reach”) is used in v. 7. Smr has the former in both v. 7 and 11.

[5:11]  ⁵⁹ tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above (cf. also 5:7).

[5:11]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “and he shall bring his offering which he sinned.” Like the similar expression in v. 7 above (see the note there), this is an abbreviated form of Lev 5:6, “and he shall bring his [penalty for] guilt to the Lord for his sin which he committed.” Here the words “to the Lord for his sin” have been left out, and “his [penalty for] guilt” has been changed to “his offering.”

[5:11]  ⁶¹ sn A tenth of an ephah would be about 2.3 liters, one day’s ration for a single person (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:306). English versions handle the amount somewhat differently, cf. NCV “about two quarts”; TEV “one kilogramme”; CEV “two pounds.”

[5:11]  ⁶² tn See the note on Lev 2:1 above.

[5:12]  ⁶¹ sn The “memorial portion” (אַזְכָּרָה, ’azkkarah) was the part of the grain offering that was burnt on the altar (Lev 2:2), as opposed to the remainder, which was normally consumed by the priests (Lev 2:3; see the full regulations in Lev 6:14-23 [6:7-16 HT]). It was probably intended to call to mind (i.e., memorialize) before the Lord the reason for the presentation of the particular offering (see the remarks in R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:335-39).

[5:13]  ⁶⁴ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[5:13]  ⁶⁵ 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]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[5:13]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “and it”; the referent (the remaining portion of the offering) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:13]  ⁶⁸ 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).