Discovery BoxLeviticus 5:1-2
Context5:1 “‘When a person sins 1 in that he hears a public curse against one who fails to testify 2 and he is a witness (he either saw or knew what had happened 3 ) and he does not make it known, 4 then he will bear his punishment for iniquity. 5 5:2 Or when there is 6 a person who touches anything ceremonially 7 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, 8 but he himself has become unclean and is guilty; 9
Leviticus 4:2
Context4:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a person sins by straying unintentionally 10 from any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, and violates any 11 one of them 12 –
Leviticus 4:13
Context4:13 “‘If the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally 13 and the matter is not noticed by 14 the assembly, and they violate one of the Lord’s commandments, which must not be violated, 15 so they become guilty,
Leviticus 4:27
Context4:27 “‘If an ordinary individual 16 sins by straying unintentionally 17 when he violates one of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, 18 and he pleads guilty
[5:1] 1 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] 2 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] 3 tn The words “what had happened” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[5:1] 4 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] 5 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] 6 tc The insertion of the words “when there is” is a reflection of the few Hebrew
[5:2] 7 tn The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the uncleanness involved is ritual or ceremonial in nature.
[5:2] 8 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] 9 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.
[4:2] 10 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
[4:2] 11 tn This is an emphatic use of the preposition מִן (min; see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 56-57, §325).
[4:2] 12 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.”
[4:13] 13 tn Heb “strays”; KJV “sin through ignorance.” The verb “strays” here is the verbal form of the noun in the expression “by straying” (see the note on Lev 4:2 above).
[4:13] 14 tn Heb “is concealed from the eyes of”; NASB, NRSV, NLT “escapes the notice of.”
[4:13] 15 tn Heb “and they do one from all the commandments of the
[4:27] 16 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] 17 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] 18 tn Heb “by doing it, one from the commandments of the
