Leviticus 5:1

Additional Sin Offering Regulations

5:1 “‘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 

Leviticus 5:17

Unknown trespass

5:17 “If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated ⁶  (although he did not know it at the time, ⁷  but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity ⁸ 

Leviticus 11:40

11:40 One who eats from its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

Leviticus 15:10

15:10 Anyone who touches anything that was under him ⁹  will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items ¹⁰  must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

Leviticus 16:22

16:22 The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, ¹¹  so he is to send the goat away ¹²  in the wilderness.

Leviticus 19:15

Justice, Love, and Propriety

19:15 “‘You ¹³  must not deal unjustly in judgment: ¹⁴  you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. ¹⁵  You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. ¹⁶ 

Leviticus 19:17

19:17 You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. ¹⁷ 

Leviticus 20:19

20:19 You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister and your father’s sister, for such a person has laid bare his own close relative. ¹⁸  They must bear their punishment for iniquity. ¹⁹ 

Leviticus 22:9

22:9 They must keep my charge so that they do not incur sin on account of it ²⁰  and therefore die ²¹  because they profane it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

[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.).

[5:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “and does one from all of the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

[5:17]  ⁷ tn The words “at the time” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[5:17]  ⁸ 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.

[15:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “which shall be under him.” The verb is perhaps a future perfect, “which shall have been.”

[15:10]  ¹² tn Heb “them”; the referent (the previously mentioned items which were under the unclean person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:22]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term rendered “inaccessible” derives from a root meaning “to cut off” (cf. NAB “an isolated region”). Another possible translation would be “infertile land” (see HALOT 187 s.v. *גָּזֵּר and cf. NRSV “a barren region”; NLT “a desolate land.”

[16:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he [the man (standing) ready, v. 21] shall send the goat away.”

[19:15]  ²¹ tc Smr has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the MT, which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.

[19:15]  ²² tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”

[19:15]  ²³ tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”

[19:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”

[19:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and you will not lift up on him sin.” The meaning of the line is somewhat obscure. It means either (1) that one should rebuke one’s neighbor when he sins lest one also becomes guilty, which is the way it is rendered here (see NIV, NRSV, NEB, JB; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129-30, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 303, and the discussion on pp. 316-17), or (2) one may rebuke one’s neighbor without incurring sin just as long as he does not hate him in his heart (see the first part of the verse; cf. NASB, NAB).

[20:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “his flesh.”

[20:19]  ³² tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.

[22:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and they will not lift up on it sin.” The pronoun “it” (masculine) apparently refers to any item of food that belongs to the category of “holy offerings” (see above).

[22:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and die in it.”