Leviticus 4

EasyEnglish Bible

Offerings for sins that people did not really want to do

4 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Say to Israel's people, “A man may sin, when he did not really want to sin against the Lord. This is what that person must do.

³ The man may be a priest that you have anointed. If that is true, his sins will cause the people to sin. He must bring a young bull as a gift to the Lord. ⁴ The priest must bring the young bull to the door of the Lord's Tent of Meeting. He must put his hand on the animal's head. And then he must kill it in front of the Lord. ⁵ The priest that you have anointed must carry some of the blood into the Tent of Meeting. ⁶ He must put his finger in the blood. He must shake it in front of the holy curtain seven times in front of the Lord. ⁷ He must put some of the blood on the horns of the incense altar in front of the Lord. The priest must pour the blood that he did not use onto the floor in front of the altar. That altar is near the door outside the Tent of Meeting. ⁸ He must cut all the fat from inside the dead animal. ⁹ He must also cut out the kidneys and the best piece of the liver. He must take them from inside the animal. ¹⁰ He must burn the fat on the altar. The priest does this when the people give a friendship offering to God. ¹¹ He must take up the skin and all the meat. He must take the head, the legs and all the inside pieces. He must include the stomach. ¹² The priest must take all the pieces to a clean place outside the camp. He must put them on the ashes and he must burn them on a wood fire.

¹³ All of the people might do bad things when they did not really want to do them. They might not obey some of the Lord's rules. They will have sinned, even if they did not know this. ¹⁴ When they do know about it they must bring a young bull to the Tent of Meeting. The animal is a sin offering. ¹⁵ The leaders of the people must put their hands on the young bull's head. Then they must kill it in front of the Lord. ¹⁶ The priest will take some of the blood into the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁷ He will put his finger in the blood. He must shake it in front of the Lord and the holy curtain seven times. ¹⁸ He will take some of the blood. Then he will put it on the horns of the altar that is in front of the Lord. He will pour the blood that he did not use onto the floor. He must pour it in front of the burnt offering altar. This altar is outside the door of the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁹ The priest will cut all the fat from the dead animal. And he will burn all the fat on the altar of burnt offering. ²⁰ He will do with this bull what he did with the bull for the sin offering. This is how the priest will atone for the sins of the people. God will forgive them when the priest does this. ²¹ The priest will take the dead animal outside the camp. He will put it on the ashes from the altar fire. He will burn the animal as he did the first bull. This is the sin offering for all the people.

²² A leader might do bad things when he did not really want to do them. He has sinned if he does not obey one of the Lord's rules. ²³ People will tell him that he has done wrong things. So then he must give a male goat to God. The animal must be perfect. ²⁴ He must put his hand on the goat's head and then he must kill it. He must do this where they kill animals in front of the Lord for the burnt offering. It is a sin offering. ²⁵ The priest will put his finger in the blood of the dead animal. He will put some of it on the horns of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not use onto the ground. He will pour it in front of the altar. ²⁶ Then the priest will cut all the fat from the goat. And he will burn it on the altar. He will do this as he did for the friendship offering. This is how the priest will make atonement for the leader's sin. Then God will forgive the leader.

²⁷ One of the people might do bad things when he did not really want to do them. He did not obey one of the Lord's rules. That person has sinned. ²⁸ They will tell him that he has done bad things. Then he must give a female goat to God. The animal must be perfect. ²⁹ He must put his hand on the goat's head. Then he must kill it by the altar of burnt offering. ³⁰ The priest will put his finger in the blood of the goat. He will put some of it on the altar's corners. He will pour out the blood that he did not use. He will pour it onto the ground in front of the altar. ³¹ The priest will cut all the fat from the goat as he did with the friendship offering. And he will burn it on the altar. This will make atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure. Then the Lord will forgive the person.

³² If a person wants to give a young sheep to God, it must be a female. It must be perfect. ³³ He must put his hand on the animal's head. He will kill it at the altar of burnt offering. ³⁴ The priest will put his finger in the blood of the sheep. He will take some of it and he will put it on the horns of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not use on the ground in front of the altar. ³⁵ The priest will cut all the fat from the sheep as he did with the friendship offering. He will burn it on the altar. He must burn it on top of the burnt offerings. This is how the priest will make atonement for the person's sin. Then the Lord will forgive the person.