Leviticus 4–7

The Sin Offering

4The Lord said to Moses, ²“Tell the people of Israel this: ‘When a person sins by accident and does some things the Lord has commanded not to be done, that person must do these things:

³“ ‘If the appointed priest sins so that he brings guilt on the people, then he must offer a young bull to the Lord, one that has nothing wrong with it, as a sin offering for the sin he has done. ⁴He will bring the bull to the entrance of the Meeting Tent in front of the Lord, put his hand on its head, and kill it before the Lord. ⁵Then the appointed priest must bring some of the bull’s blood into the Meeting Tent. ⁶The priest is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the curtain of the Most Holy Place. ⁷The priest must also put some of the blood on the corners of the altar of incense that stands before the Lord in the Meeting Tent. The rest of the blood he must pour out at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. ⁸He must remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—the fat on and around the inner organs, ⁹both kidneys with the fat that is on them near the lower back muscle, and the best part of the liver which he will remove with the kidneys. ¹⁰(He must do this in the same way the fat is removed from the bull of the fellowship offering.) Then the priest must burn the animal parts on the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹But the priest must carry off the skin of the bull and all its meat, along with the rest of the bull—its head, legs, intestines, and other inner organs. ¹²He must take it outside the camp to the special clean place where the ashes are poured out. He must burn it on a wood fire on the pile of ashes.

¹³“ ‘If the whole nation of Israel sins accidentally without knowing it and does something the Lord has commanded not to be done, they are guilty. ¹⁴When they learn about the sin they have done, they must offer a young bull as a sin offering and bring it before the Meeting Tent. ¹⁵The elders of the group of people must put their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and it must be killed before the Lord. ¹⁶Then the appointed priest must bring some of the bull’s blood into the Meeting Tent. ¹⁷Dipping his finger in the blood, he must sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the curtain. ¹⁸Then he must put some of the blood on the corners of the altar that is before the Lord in the Meeting Tent. The priest must pour out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ¹⁹He must remove all the fat from the animal and burn it on the altar; ²⁰he will do the same thing with this bull that he did with the first bull of the sin offering. In this way the priest removes the sins of the people so they will belong to the Lord and be forgiven. ²¹Then the priest must carry the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he did with the first bull. This is the sin offering for the whole community.

²²“ ‘If a ruler sins by accident and does something the Lord his God has commanded must not be done, he is guilty. ²³When he learns about his sin, he must bring a male goat that has nothing wrong with it as his offering. ²⁴The ruler must put his hand on the goat’s head and kill it in the place where they kill the whole burnt offering before the Lord; it is a sin offering. ²⁵The priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the corners of the altar of burnt offering. He must pour out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. ²⁶He must burn all the goat’s fat on the altar in the same way he burns the fat of the fellowship offerings. In this way the priest removes the ruler’s sin so he belongs to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him.

²⁷“ ‘If any person in the community sins by accident and does something which the Lord has commanded must not be done, he is guilty. ²⁸When the person learns about his sin, he must bring a female goat that has nothing wrong with it as an offering for his sin. ²⁹He must put his hand on the animal’s head and kill it at the place of the whole burnt offering. ³⁰Then the priest must take some of the goat’s blood on his finger and put it on the corners of the altar of burnt offering. He must pour out the rest of the goat’s blood at the bottom of the altar. ³¹Then the priest must remove all the goat’s fat in the same way the fat is removed from the fellowship offerings. He must burn it on the altar as a smell pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will remove that person’s sin so he will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him.

³²“ ‘If this person brings a lamb as his offering for sin, he must bring a female that has nothing wrong with it. ³³He must put his hand on the animal’s head and kill it as a sin offering in the place where the whole burnt offering is killed. ³⁴The priest must take some of the blood from the sin offering on his finger and put it on the corners of the altar of burnt offering. He must pour out the rest of the lamb’s blood at the bottom of the altar. ³⁵Then the priest must remove all the lamb’s fat in the same way that the lamb’s fat is removed from the fellowship offerings. He must burn the pieces on the altar on top of the offerings made by fire for the Lord. In this way the priest will remove that person’s sins so he will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him.

Special Types of Accidental Sins

5“ ‘If a person is ordered to tell in court what he has seen or what he knows and he does not tell the court, he is guilty of sin.

²“ ‘Or someone might touch something unclean, such as the dead body of an unclean wild animal or an unclean farm animal or an unclean crawling animal. Even if he does not know that he touched it, he will still be unclean and guilty of sin.

³“ ‘Someone might touch human uncleanness—anything that makes someone unclean—and not know it. But when he learns about it, he will be guilty.

⁴“ ‘Or someone might make a promise before the Lord without thinking. It might be a promise to do something bad or something good; it might be about anything. Even if he forgets about it, when he remembers, he will be guilty.

⁵“ ‘When anyone is guilty of any of these things, he must tell how he sinned. ⁶He must bring an offering to the Lord as a penalty for sin; it must be a female lamb or goat from the flock. The priest will perform the acts to remove that person’s sin so he will belong to the Lord.

⁷“ ‘But if the person cannot afford a lamb, he must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord as the penalty for his sin. One bird must be for a sin offering, and the other must be for a whole burnt offering. ⁸He must bring them to the priest, who will first offer the one for the sin offering. He will pull the bird’s head from its neck, but he will not pull it completely off. ⁹He must sprinkle the blood from the sin offering on the side of the altar, and then he must pour the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar; it is a sin offering. ¹⁰Then the priest must offer the second bird as a whole burnt offering, as the law says. In this way the priest will remove the person’s sin so he will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him.

¹¹“ ‘If the person cannot afford two doves or two pigeons, he must bring about two quarts of fine flour as an offering for sin. He must not put oil or incense on the flour, because it is a sin offering. ¹²He must bring the flour to the priest. The priest will take a handful of the flour as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar on top of the offerings made by fire to the Lord; it is a sin offering. ¹³In this way the priest will remove the person’s sins so he will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him. What is left of the sin offering belongs to the priest, like the grain offering.’ ”

The Penalty Offering

¹⁴The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁵“If a person accidentally sins and does something against the holy things of the Lord, he must bring from the flock a male sheep that has nothing wrong with it. This will be his penalty offering to the Lord. Its value in silver must be correct as set by the Holy Place measure. It is a penalty offering. ¹⁶That person must pay for the sin he did against the holy thing, adding one-fifth to its value. Then he must give it all to the priest. In this way the priest will remove the person’s sin so he will belong to the Lord, by using the male sheep as the penalty offering. And the Lord will forgive the person.

¹⁷“If a person sins and does something the Lord has commanded not to be done, even if he does not know it, he is still guilty. He is responsible for his sin. ¹⁸He must bring the priest a male sheep from the flock, one that has nothing wrong with it and that is worth the correct amount. It will be a penalty offering. Though the person sinned without knowing it, with this offering the priest will remove the sin so the person will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him. ¹⁹The person is guilty of doing wrong, so he must give the penalty offering to the Lord.”

6The Lord said to Moses, ²“A person might sin against the Lord by doing one of these sins: He might lie about what happened to something he was taking care of for someone else, or he might lie about a promise he made. He might steal something or cheat someone. ³He might find something that had been lost and then lie about it. He might make a promise before the Lord about something and not mean it, or he might do some other sin. ⁴If he does any of these things, he is guilty of sin. He must bring back whatever he stole or whatever he took by cheating. He must bring back the thing he took care of for someone else. He must bring back what he found and lied about ⁵or what he made a false promise about. He must pay the full price plus an extra one-fifth of the value of what he took. He must give the money to the true owner on the day he…