Leviticus 5–6

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 law of the burnt offering; the burnt offering itself must remain on the altar’s hearth all night until morning, while the fire of the altar is kept burning on it. ¹⁰The priest is to put on his linen robe and linen undergarments.^Baf He is to remove the ashes of the burnt offering the fire has consumed on the altar, and place them beside the altar. ¹¹Then he will take off his garments, put on other clothes,^ag and bring the ashes outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place. ¹²The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest will burn wood on the fire. He is to arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat portions from the fellowship offerings^a on it. ¹³Fire must be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not go out.

THE GRAIN OFFERING

¹⁴“Now this is the law of the grain offering:^b Aaron’s sons will present it before the Lord in front of the altar. ¹⁵The priest is to remove a handful of fine flour and olive oil from the grain offering, with all the frankincense that is on the offering, and burn its memorial portion on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁶Aaron and his sons may eat the rest of it.^c It is to be eaten in the form of unleavened bread^d in a holy place;^e they are to eat it in the courtyard^f of the tent of meeting. ¹⁷It must not be baked with yeast; I have assigned it as their portion^g from my food offerings.^h It is especially holy, like the sin offeringⁱ and the guilt offering. ¹⁸Any male among Aaron’s descendants^j may eat it. It is a permanent portion^Ak throughout your generations from the food offerings to the Lord. Anything that touches the offerings will become holy.”^l

¹⁹The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁰“This is the offering that Aaron and his sons are to present to the Lord on the day that he is anointed: two quarts^B of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. ²¹It is to be prepared with oil on a griddle; you are to bring it well-kneaded. You are to present it as a grain offering of baked pieces,^C a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ²²The priest, who is one of Aaron’s sons and will be anointed to take his place, is to prepare it. It must be completely burned as a permanent portion for the Lord. ²³Every grain offering for a priest will be a whole burnt offering;^m it is not to be eaten.”

THE SIN OFFERING

²⁴The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁵“Tell Aaron and his sons: This is the law of the sin offering.ⁿ The sin offering is most holy and must be slaughtered before the Lord at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. ²⁶The priest who offers it as a sin offering will eat it. It is to be eaten in a holy place,^o in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. ²⁷Anything that touches its flesh will become holy, and if any of its blood spatters on a garment, then you must wash that garment^D in a holy place. ²⁸A clay pot in which the sin offering is boiled is to be broken; if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, it is to be scoured and rinsed with water. ²⁹Any male among the priests may eat it; it is especially holy. ³⁰But no sin offering may be eaten if its blood has been brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place; it must be burned.