Leviticus 5:11-13

5:11 “‘If he cannot afford ¹  two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ²  he must bring as his offering for his sin which he has committed ³  a tenth of an ephah ⁴  of choice wheat flour ⁵  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 ⁶  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 ⁷  on his behalf for his sin which he has committed by doing one of these things, ⁸  and he will be forgiven. ⁹  The remainder of the offering ¹⁰  will belong to the priest like the grain offering.’” ¹¹ 

[5:11]  ¹ 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]  ² tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above (cf. also 5:7).

[5:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn See the note on Lev 2:1 above.

[5:12]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[5:13]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[5:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and it”; the referent (the remaining portion of the offering) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:13]  ¹¹ 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).