^4:22“ ‘Whenever⁴⁴ a leader, by straying unintentionally,⁴⁵ sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be violated,⁴⁶ and he pleads guilty, ^4:23or his sin that he committed⁴⁷ is made known to him,⁴⁸ he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering.⁴⁹^4:24He must lay his hand on the head of the male goat and slaughter⁵⁰ it in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord—it is a sin offering. ^4:25Then the priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. ^4:26Then the priest⁵¹ must offer all of its fat up in smoke on the altar like the fat of the peace offering sacrifice. So the priest will make atonement⁵² on his behalf for⁵³ his sin and he will be forgiven.⁵⁴

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Footnotes

44 This section begins with the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher) which usually means “who” or “which,” but here means “whenever.”
45 See the note on “straying.”
46 Heb “and does one from all the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be done”; cf. “ought not to be done”; “does what is forbidden in any of the commands.”
47 Heb “or his sin which he sinned in it is made known to him”; “if he learns of the sin he committed.”
48 Lev 4:22b–23a is difficult. The present translation suggests that there are two possible legal situations envisioned, separated by the Hebrew אוֹ (’o, “or”) at the beginning of v. 23. Lev 4:22b refers to any case in which the leader readily admits his guilt (i.e., “pleads guilty”), whereas v. 23a refers to cases where the leader is convicted of his guilt by legal action (“his sin … is made known to him”). See R. E. Averbeck, 2:; Lev 4:27–28; and esp. the notes on below.
49 Heb “a he-goat of goats, a male without defect”; cf. “with no physical defects.”
50 The has a plural form here and also for the same verb later in the verse. See the note on .
51 Heb “Then he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Based on the parallel statements in 4:10 and 4:31, it is the priest who performs this action rather than the person who brought the offering.
52 The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on ).
53 Heb “from.” In this phrase the preposition מִן (min) may be referring to the reason or cause (“on account of, because of”; §119.z). As J. E. Hartley (Leviticus [], ) points out, “from” may refer to the removal of the sin, but is an awkward expression. Hartley also suggests that the phrasing might be “an elliptical expression for יְכַפֵּר עַל־לְטַהֵר אֶת־מִן, ‘he will make expiation for … to cleanse … from …,’ as in 16:30.”
54 Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” ( similar).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish, and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord; it is a sin offering. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“ ‘When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the Lord his God, when he realizes his guilt and the sin he has committed becomes known, he must bring as his offering a male goat without defect. He is to lay his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord. It is a sin offering. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the leader’s sin, and he will be forgiven.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“When a leader sins and unintentionally violates any of the commands of the Lord his God by doing what is prohibited, and incurs guilt, or someone informs him about the sin he has committed, he is to bring an unblemished male goat as his offering. He is to lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord. It is a sin offering. 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. The rest of its blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. He 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.

NLTNew Living Translation

“If one of Israel’s leaders sins by violating one of the commands of the Lord his God but doesn’t realize it, he is still guilty. When he becomes aware of his sin, he must bring as his offering a male goat with no defects. He must lay his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it at the place where burnt offerings are slaughtered before the Lord. This is an offering for his sin. Then the priest will dip his finger in the blood of the sin offering and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. Then he must burn all the goat’s fat on the altar, just as he does with the peace offering. Through this process, the priest will purify the leader from his sin, making him right with the Lord, and he will be forgiven.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“ ‘When a leader sins and commits an unintentional wrong against any of the commands of Yahweh his God that should not be violated, so that he incurs guilt, or his sin he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring a male goat without defect as his offering. He shall place his hand on the he-goat’s head and slaughter it in the place where he slaughtered the burnt offering before Yahweh; it is a sin offering. The priest shall take some of the sin offering’s blood with his finger, and he shall put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and he must pour out the rest of its blood on the base of the altar of the burnt offering. He must turn all of its fat into smoke on the altar like the fat of the fellowship offerings’ sacrifice, and the priest shall make atonement for him because of his sin, and he will be forgiven.

KJV 1900King James Version

When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord: it is a sin offering. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.

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