Leviticus 5–6

Cases Requiring Sin-Offerings

5Sin offerings are required in the following cases. If someone is officially summoned to give evidence in court and does not give information about something he has seen or heard, he must suffer the consequences.

²If someone unintentionally touches anything ritually unclean, such as a dead animal, he is unclean and guilty as soon as he realizes what he has done.

³If someone unintentionally touches anything of human origin that is unclean, whatever it may be, he is guilty as soon as he realizes what he has done.

⁴If someone makes a careless vow, no matter what it is about, he is guilty as soon as he realizes what he has done.

⁵When a person is guilty, he must confess the sin, ⁶and as the penalty for his sin he must bring to the Lord a female sheep or goat as an offering. The priest shall offer the sacrifice for the man’s sin.

⁷If a man cannot afford a sheep or a goat, he shall bring to the Lord as the payment for his sin two doves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸He shall bring them to the priest, who will first offer the bird for the sin offering. He will break its neck without pulling off its head ⁹and sprinkle some of its blood against the side of the altar. The rest of the blood will be drained out at the base of the altar. This is an offering to take away sin. ¹⁰Then he shall offer the second bird as a burnt offering, according to the regulations. In this way the priest shall offer the sacrifice for the man’s sin, and he will be forgiven.

¹¹If a man cannot afford two doves or two pigeons, he shall bring one kilogramme of flour as a sin offering. He shall not put any olive oil or any incense on it, because it is a sin offering, not a grain offering. ¹²He shall bring it to the priest, who will take a handful of it as a token that it has all been offered to the Lord, and he will burn it on the altar as a food offering. It is an offering to take away sin. ¹³In this way the priest shall offer the sacrifice for the man’s sin, and he will be forgiven. The rest of the flour belongs to the priest, just as in the case of a grain offering.

Repayment-Offerings

¹⁴The Lord gave the following regulations to Moses. ¹⁵If anyone sins unintentionally by failing to hand over the payments that are sacred to the Lord, he shall bring as his repayment offering to the Lord a male sheep or goat without any defects. Its value is to be determined according to the official standard. ¹⁶He must make the payments he has failed to hand over and must pay an additional twenty per cent. He shall give it to the priest, and the priest shall offer the animal as a sacrifice for the man’s sin, and he will be forgiven.

¹⁷If anyone sins unintentionally by breaking any of the Lord’s commands, he is guilty and must pay the penalty. ¹⁸He must bring to the priest as a repayment offering a male sheep or goat without any defects. Its value is to be determined according to the official standard. The priest shall offer the sacrifice for the sin which the man committed unintentionally, and he will be forgiven. ¹⁹It is a repayment offering for the sin he committed against the Lord.

6^*The Lord gave the following regulations to Moses. ^2*An offering is to be made if anyone sins against the Lord by refusing to return what a fellow-Israelite has left as a deposit or by stealing something from him or by cheating him ^3*or by lying about something that has been lost and swearing that he did not find it. ^4–5*When a man sins in any of these ways, he must repay whatever he got by dishonest means. On the day he is found guilty, he must repay the owner in full, plus an additional twenty per cent. ^6*He shall bring to the priest as his repayment offering to the Lord a male sheep or goat without any defects. Its value is to be determined according to the official standard. ^7*The priest shall offer the sacrifice for the man’s sin, and he will be forgiven.

Sacrifices Burnt Whole

⁸The Lord commanded Moses ⁹to give Aaron and his sons the following regulations for burnt offerings. A burnt offering is to be left on the altar all night long, and the fire is to be kept burning. ¹⁰Then the priest, wearing his linen robe and linen shorts, shall remove the greasy ashes left on the altar and put them at the side of the altar. ¹¹Then he shall change his clothes and take the ashes outside the camp to a ritually clean place. ¹²The fire on the altar must be kept burning and never allowed to go out. Every morning the priest shall put firewood on it, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat of the fellowship offering. ¹³The fire must always be kept burning on the altar and never allowed to go out.

Grain-Offerings

¹⁴The following are the regulations for grain offerings. An Aaronite priest shall present the grain offering to the Lord in front of the altar. ¹⁵Then he shall take a handful of the flour and oil, and the incense on it, and burn it on the altar as a token that all of it has been offered to the Lord. The smell of this offering is pleasing to the Lord. ^16–17The priests shall eat the rest of it. It shall be made into bread baked without yeast and eaten in a holy place, the courtyard of the Tent of the Lord’s presence. The Lord has given it to the priests as their part of the food offerings. It is very holy, like the sin offerings and the repayment offerings. ¹⁸For all time to come any of the male descendants of Aaron may eat it as their continuing share of the food offered to the Lord. Anyone else who touches a food offering will be harmed by the power of its holiness.

¹⁹The Lord gave Moses the following regulations ²⁰for the ordination of an Aaronite priest. On the day he is ordained, he shall present as an offering to the Lord one kilogramme of flour (the same amount as the daily grain offering), half in the morning and half in the evening. ²¹It is to be mixed with oil and cooked on a griddle and then crumbled and presented as a grain offering, a smell pleasing to the Lord. ²²For all time to come this offering is to be made by every descendant of Aaron who is serving as High Priest. It shall be completely burnt as a sacrifice to the Lord. ²³No part of a grain offering that a priest makes may be eaten; all of it must be burnt.

Sin-Offerings

²⁴The Lord commanded Moses ²⁵to give Aaron and his sons the following regulations for sin offerings. The animal for a sin offering shall be killed on the north side of the altar, where the animals for the burnt offerings are killed. This is a very holy offering. ²⁶The priest who sacrifices the animal shall eat it in a holy place, the courtyard of the Tent of the Lord’s presence. ²⁷Anyone or anything that touches the flesh of the animal will be harmed by the power of its holiness. If any article of clothing is spattered with the animal’s blood, it must be washed in a holy place. ²⁸Any clay pot in which the meat is boiled must be broken, and if a metal pot is used, it must be scrubbed and rinsed with water. ²⁹Any male of the priestly families may eat this offering; it is very holy. ³⁰But if any of the blood is brought into the Tent and used in the ritual to take away sin, the animal must not be eaten; it must be burnt.