Leviticus 4–7

4TH CHAPTER

Offerings for Unintentional Wrongdoing

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites: If a person unintentionally does something wrong—even one thing that is forbidden by any of the Lord’s commands—this is what he must do. 

Offerings for Wrongdoing by the Chief Priest

³“If the anointed priest does something wrong and brings guilt on the people, he must bring a bull that has no defects as an offering for sin to the Lord. ⁴He must bring the bull into the Lord’s presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He will place his hand on the bull’s head. He will then slaughter the bull in the Lord’s presence. ⁵Then the anointed priest will take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the tent of meeting. ⁶The priest will dip his finger in it and sprinkle some of the blood seven times in the Lord’s presence facing the canopy in the holy place. ⁷Then the priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar for sweet-smelling incense in the Lord’s presence in the tent of meeting. He will pour the rest of the bull’s blood at the bottom of the altar for burnt offerings at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸He will remove all of the fat from the bull that is the offering for sin, the fat that covers the internal organs, ⁹and the two kidneys with the fat on them. He will also remove the lobe of the liver and the kidneys ¹⁰the same way they were removed from the bull used for the fellowship offering. The priest will lay them on the altar for burnt offerings. ¹¹Then he will take the entire bull (the skin, meat, head, legs, internal organs, and excrement) ¹²to a clean^aplace outside the camp where the ashes are dumped. He will burn it there on a wood fire. 

Offerings for Wrongdoing by the Whole Congregation

¹³“If the whole congregation of Israel unintentionally does something wrong, without the assembly being aware of it, if they do even one thing that is forbidden by any of the Lord’s commands, they will be guilty. ¹⁴When the wrong they have done becomes known, the congregation must sacrifice a bull as an offering for sin. They must bring it in front of the tent of meeting. ¹⁵The leaders of the congregation will place their hands on the bull’s head in the Lord’s presence. One of them will slaughter it in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁶Then the anointed priest will bring some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. ¹⁷The priest will dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times in the Lord’s presence facing the canopy. ¹⁸He will also put some blood on the horns of the altar in the Lord’s presence in the tent of meeting. He will pour the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar for burnt offerings at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹⁹He will remove all the fat and burn it on the altar. ²⁰He will do the same thing with this bull that he did with the bull used as the offering for sin. So the priest will make peace with the Lord for the people, and they will be forgiven. ²¹Then he will take the bull outside the camp and will burn it the same way he burned the first bull. It is an offering for sin for the community. 

Offerings for Wrongdoing by a Leader

²²“When a leader unintentionally does something wrong—even one thing that is forbidden by any of the commands of the Lord his God—he will be guilty. ²³When he is told about what he has done wrong, he must bring a male goat that has no defects as his offering. ²⁴He will place his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it in the Lord’s presence where he slaughters animals for burnt offerings. It is an offering for sin. ²⁵Then the priest will take some of the blood of the offering for sin with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar for burnt offerings. ²⁶He will burn all the fat on the altar the same way the fat of the fellowship offering is burned. So the priest will make peace with the Lord for what the leader did wrong, and the leader will be forgiven. 

Offerings for Wrongdoing by a Common Person—Goats

²⁷“If a common person unintentionally does something wrong—even one thing forbidden by the Lord’s commands—he will be guilty. ²⁸When he is told about what he has done wrong, he must bring a female goat that has no defects as his offering for what he has done wrong. ²⁹He will place his hand on the animal’s head and slaughter it where animals for burnt offerings are slaughtered. ³⁰The priest will take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. ³¹He will remove all the fat the same way it is removed from the fellowship offering. The priest will burn it on the altar for a soothing aroma to the Lord. So the priest will make peace with the Lord for that person, and that person will be forgiven. 

Offerings for Wrongdoing by a Common Person—Lambs

³²“If someone brings a lamb as his offering for sin, he must bring a female that has no defects. ³³He will place his hand on the animal’s head and slaughter it where he slaughters animals for burnt offerings. ³⁴Then the priest will take some of the blood from the offering for sin with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. ³⁵He will remove all the fat the same way the fat of the lamb is removed from the fellowship offerings. Then the priest will burn it on the altar with the offering by fire to the Lord. So the priest will make peace with the Lord for what that person did wrong, and that person will be forgiven.” 

5TH CHAPTER

Sins Which Require an Offering for Sin

¹⸤The Lord continued,⸥ “Now, if you are a witness under oath and won’t tell what you saw or what you know, you are sinning and will be punished. 

²“If you touch anything unclean^a—the unclean dead body of a wild or tame animal or the body of an unclean, swarming creature—and then ignore what you did, you are unclean and will be guilty. 

³“If you become unclean by touching human uncleanness of any kind and then ignore it (although you know what you did), you will be guilty. 

⁴“If you hastily take a vow about what you will or will not do (as some people do) and then ignore it (although you know what you said), you will be guilty. 

⁵“So if you are guilty of any of these sins, you must confess it. ⁶Bring your guilt offering to the Lord for the sin you committed. It must be a female sheep or goat as an offering for sin. Then the priest will make peace with the Lord for what you did wrong. 

If You Cannot Afford a Sheep

⁷“Now, if you cannot afford a sheep, you must bring to the Lord two mourning doves or two pigeons as a guilt offering for the sin you committed. One will be an offering for sin, the other a burnt offering. ⁸Bring them to the priest, and he will sacrifice the offering for sin first. He will break the bird’s neck without pulling its head off. ⁹He will sprinkle some of the blood from the offering for sin on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood will be drained at the bottom of the altar. It is an offering for sin. ¹⁰Then, following the proper procedures, he will sacrifice the second bird as a burnt offering. So the priest will make peace with the Lord for what you did wrong. 

If You Cannot Afford Two Mourning Doves

¹¹“But if you cannot afford two mourning doves or two pigeons, then bring eight cups of flour as an offering for the sin you committed. Never put olive oil on it or add incense to it, because it is an offering for sin. ¹²Bring it to the priest. The priest will take a handful of it. He will burn it as a reminder on top of the offering by fire to the Lord on the altar. It is an offering for sin. ¹³So the priest will make peace with the Lord for what you did wrong, and you will be forgiven. The offering will belong to the priest like the grain offering.” 

For Unintentional Wrongdoing against the Lord’s Property

¹⁴The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁵“If any of you fail to do your duty by unintentionally doing something wrong with any of the Lord’s holy things, bring a guilt offering to the Lord. It must be a ram that has no defects or its value in silver weighed according to the official standards of the holy place. ¹⁶Pay for whatever holy things you used plus one-fifth more. Give it to the priest. So the priest will use the ram sacrificed for the guilt offering to make peace with the Lord for what you did wrong, and you will be forgiven. 

For Unintentionally Disobeying the Lord’s Commands

¹⁷“If any of you do wrong—even one thing forbidden by any of the Lord’s commands, but you didn’t know it—when you realize your guilt, you must be punished. ¹⁸You must bring the priest a ram that has no defects from the flock or its value in money for a guilt offering. The priest will make peace with the Lord for the wrong you did unintentionally (although you didn’t know what you did), and you will be forgiven. ¹⁹It is a guilt offering because you are certainly guilty as far as the Lord is concerned.” 

6TH CHAPTER^a

For Sins against the Lord’s People

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“If any of you sin against the Lord by failing to do your duty, if you lie to your neighbor about something you were supposed to take care of or if you lie about something stolen or seized from your neighbor, you are sinning and will be guilty. ³If you find something that someone lost and lie about it under oath, or commit any other sin like this, ⁴you are sinning and will be guilty. Return what you stole or seized, what you were supposed to take care of, the lost item you found, ⁵or whatever it was that you swore falsely about. Pay it back in full plus one-fifth more. Give it back to its owner on the day you bring your guilt offering. ⁶Then bring the Lord your guilt offering, a ram that has no defects or its value in money. Bring it to the priest. ⁷So the priest will make peace with the Lord. Then you will be forgiven for whatever you did that…