Leviticus 4–7

THE SIN OFFERING

4Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Tell the Israelites: When someone sins unintentionally^q against any of the Lord’s commands and does anything prohibited by them—

³“If the anointed priest^r sins, bringing guilt^s on the people, he is to present to the Lord a young, unblemished^t bull as a sin^C offering^u for the sin he has committed. ⁴He is to bring the bull to the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and slaughter it before the Lord. ⁵The anointed priest will then take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the tent of meeting. ⁶The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times^v before the Lord in front of the curtain^w of the sanctuary.^{x 7}The priest is to apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar of fragrant incense^y that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. He must pour out the rest of the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering^z that is at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸He is to remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering: the fat surrounding the entrails, all the fat that is on the entrails, ⁹and the two kidneys with the fat on them at the loins. He will also remove the fatty lobe of the liver with the kidneys, ¹⁰just as the fat is removed from the ox of the fellowship sacrifice.^aa The priest is to burn them on the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹But the hide^ab of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and legs, and its entrails and waste—¹²all the rest of the bull—he must bring to a ceremonially clean place^ac outside the camp^ad to the ash heap, and must burn it on a wood fire. It is to be burned at the ash heap.

¹³“Now if the whole community of Israel^a errs,^b and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly,^c so that they violate any of the Lord’s commands and incur guilt^d by doing what is prohibited, ¹⁴then the assembly must present a young bull as a sin offering. They are to bring it before the tent of meeting when the sin they have committed in regard to the command becomes known. ¹⁵The elders^e of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord and it is to be slaughtered before the Lord. ¹⁶The anointed priest will bring some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. ¹⁷The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the curtain. ¹⁸He is to apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. He will pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹⁹He is to remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. ²⁰He is to offer this bull just as he did with the bull in the sin offering; he will offer it the same way. So the priest will make atonement^f on their behalf, and they will be forgiven.^{g 21}Then he will bring the bull outside the camp^h and burn it just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.

²²“When a leader^Ai sins and unintentionally violates any of the commands of the Lord his God by doing what is prohibited, and incurs guilt, ²³or someone informs him about the sin he has committed, he is to bring an unblemished male goat^j as his offering. ²⁴He is to lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering^k is slaughtered before the Lord. It is a sin offering.^{l 25}Then the priest is to take some of the blood from the sin offering with his finger and apply it to the horns of the altar of burnt offering.^m The rest of its blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. ²⁶He must burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the fellowship sacrifice. In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf for that person’s sin, and he will be forgiven.

²⁷“Now if any of the common people^B sins unintentionally by violating one of the Lord’s commands, does what is prohibited, and incurs guilt, ²⁸or if someone informs him about the sin he has committed, then he is to bring an unblemished female goat as his offering for the sin that he has committed. ²⁹He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. ³⁰Then the priest is to take some of its blood with his finger and apply it to the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He is to pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. ³¹He is to remove all its fat just as the fat is removed from the fellowship sacrifice. The priest is to burn it on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf, and he will be forgiven.

³²“Or if the offering that he brings as a sin offering is a lamb,ⁿ he is to bring an unblemished female. ³³He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. ³⁴Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and apply it to the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He is to pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. ³⁵He is to remove all its fat just as the fat of the lamb is removed from the fellowship sacrifice. The priest will burn it on the altar along with the food offerings to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.

CASES REQUIRING SIN OFFERINGS

5“When someone sins in any of these ways:

If he has seen, heard, or known about something he has witnessed, and did not respond to a public call to testify, he will bear his iniquity.^o

²Or if someone touches anything unclean^p—a carcass of an unclean wild animal,^q or unclean livestock, or an unclean swarming creature^r—without being aware of it, he is unclean and incurs guilt.^s

³Or if he touches human uncleanness^t—any uncleanness by which one can become defiled^u—without being aware of it, but later recognizes it, he incurs guilt.

⁴Or if someone swears rashly^v to do what is good or evil—concerning anything a person may speak rashly in an oath—without being aware of it, but later recognizes it, he incurs guilt in such an instance.

⁵If someone incurs guilt in one of these cases, he is to confess^a he has committed that sin. ⁶He must bring his penalty for guilt^b for the sin he has committed to the Lord: a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement^c on his behalf for his sin.

⁷“But if he cannot afford an animal from the flock, then he may bring to the Lord two turtledoves or two young pigeons^d as penalty for guilt for his sin—one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. ⁸He is to bring them to the priest, who will first present the one for the sin offering. He is to twist its head at the back of the neck without severing it.^{e 9}Then he will sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood is to be drained out at the base of the altar;^f it is a sin offering. ¹⁰He will prepare the second bird as a burnt offering according to the regulation.^g In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.

¹¹“But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons,^h he may bring two quarts^A of fine flour^Bi as an offering for his sin. He must not put olive oil or frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹²He is to bring it to the priest, who will take a handful from it as its memorial portion^j and burn it on the altar along with the food offerings to the Lord; it is a sin offering. ¹³In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf concerning the sin he has committed in any of these cases, and he will be forgiven. The rest will belong to the priest, like the grain offering.”^k

THE GUILT OFFERING

¹⁴Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁵“If someone offends^l by sinning unintentionally^m in regard to any of the Lord’s holy things,^C he must bring his penalty for guilt to the Lord: an unblemished ram from the flock (based on your assessment of its value in silver shekels, according to the sanctuary shekelⁿ) as a guilt offering. ¹⁶He is to make restitution^o for his sin regarding any holy^p thing, adding a fifth of its value to it,^q and give it to the priest. Then the priest will make atonement on his behalf with the ram of the guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.^r

¹⁷“If someone sins and without knowing it violates any of the Lord’s commands concerning anything prohibited, he is guilty, and he will bear his iniquity. ¹⁸He must bring an unblemished ram from the flock according to your assessment of its value as a guilt offering to the priest. Then the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the error he has committed unintentionally, and he will be forgiven. ¹⁹It is a guilt offering; he is indeed guilty before the Lord.”

6The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“When someone sins and offends the Lord by deceiving^s his neighbor in regard to a deposit,^t a security,^A or a robbery;^u or defrauds^v his neighbor; ³or finds something lost and lies about it;^w or swears falsely^x about any of the sinful things a person may do—⁴once he has sinned^y and acknowledged his guilt^z—he must return what he stole or defrauded, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost item he found, ⁵or anything else about which he swore falsely. He will make full restitution for it and add a fifth of its value to it.^aa He is to pay it to its owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt.^{ab 6}Then he is to bring his guilt offering^ac to the Lord: an unblemished^ad ram from the flock according to your assessment of its value as a guilt offering to the priest. ⁷In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt.”^ae

THE BURNT OFFERING

⁸The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁹“Command Aaron and his sons: This is the…