Leviticus 4:1-5:13

Modern English Version

The Sin Offering

4 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to the children of Israel, saying: When a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord that should not be done, and he violates one of them, ³ if the anointed priest sins, so as to bring guilt on the people, he shall bring for his sin that he has committed a bull without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. ⁴ He shall bring the bull to the opening of the tent of meeting before the Lord, and he shall lay his hand on the bull’s head and slaughter the bull before the Lord. ⁵ The anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the tent of meeting. ⁶ The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. ⁷ Then the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord which is in the tent of meeting, and shall pour the rest of the blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering which is at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁸ Then he shall remove all the fat of the bull that is for the sin offering—the fat that covers the entrails—and all the fat that is on the entrails, ⁹ and the two kidneys with the fat that is above them, which is on the loins, and the appendage on the liver which he shall remove with the kidneys, ¹⁰ just as these are removed from the bull of the peace sacrifice, and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering. ¹¹ The skin of the bull, and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung, ¹² all the rest of the bull, he shall bring outside the camp to a ritually clean^[a] place at the ash pile and burn it on wood with fire. It shall be burned on the ash heap.

¹³ If the whole congregation of Israel commits an unintentional sin, and the matter is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the commandments of the Lord should not be done, and they are found guilty, ¹⁴ and the sin that they committed against the commandment becomes known, the congregation shall offer a bull for a sin offering, and they will bring it before the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ The elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull will be slaughtered before the Lord. ¹⁶ The anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood to the tent of meeting. ¹⁷ And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil. ¹⁸ He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord, which is in the tent of meeting, and he shall pour all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar of the burnt offering that is at the opening of the tent of meeting. ¹⁹ He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. ²⁰ He shall do to this bull just as he did to the bull of the sin offering; this is what he will do to it. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven. ²¹ He shall bring the bull outside the camp, and he shall burn it just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering of the congregation.

²² Whenever a leader sins, and he does unintentionally any one of the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God should not be done and is found guilty, ²³ or his sin that he committed was made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a male goat without blemish, ²⁴ and he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and he shall slaughter it in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering before the Lord. It is a sin offering. ²⁵ The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and he shall pour out its blood at the base of the altar of the burnt offering. ²⁶ And he shall burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the peace sacrifice, and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.

²⁷ If any one of the common people should sin unintentionally by doing one of the things that by the commandments of the Lord should not be done, and is found guilty, ²⁸ or his sin that he committed was made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a female goat without blemish, for his sin that he committed. ²⁹ He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and he shall slaughter the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. ³⁰ The priest shall take some of its blood on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and he shall pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. ³¹ And he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat is removed from the peace sacrifice, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.

³² And if he brings a sheep for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish, ³³ and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and he shall slaughter it for a sin offering in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering. ³⁴ The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar. ³⁵ And he shall remove all the fat, just as the fat of the sheep is removed from the peace sacrifice, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the Lord made by fire. And the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he committed, and he shall be forgiven.

The Guilt Offering

5 When a person sins in hearing the spoken oath, and he is a witness, whether he saw or knew about the incident, if he does not report it, he bears guilt.

² Or when a person touches any ceremonially unclean thing, whether it is a carcass of unclean wildlife, or a carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean crawling thing, and he did not realize it, then he has become unclean and guilty.

³ Or when he touches human uncleanness, any uncleanness by which he may become ceremonially unclean, and he did not realize it, when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty.

⁴ Or when a person swears by speaking rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good, anything that a man may speak rashly by oath, and he did not realize it, but when he realizes it, then he has become guilty of any of these things.

⁵ When he becomes guilty of one of these things, he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing. ⁶ And he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.

⁷ If he cannot afford an animal, then he shall bring for his guilt offering, on account of the sin that he committed, two turtledoves or two pigeons to the Lord, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. ⁸ He shall bring them to the priest who shall offer the one for the sin offering first. He will wring off its head at its neck, but he shall not sever it. ⁹ Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be poured out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the second he shall treat as a burnt offering according to the regulation. The priest shall make atonement for him for his sin that he committed, and he shall be forgiven.

¹¹ But if he cannot afford to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons, he shall bring for his offering for the sin that he committed one-tenth of an ephah^[b] of wheat flour for a sin offering. He shall not place olive oil on it, nor shall he put frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹² Then he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall scoop out a handful from it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar as a food offering to the Lord made by fire. It is a sin offering. ¹³ The priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin that he committed from any of these offenses, and he shall be forgiven. The remainder will belong to the priest, like the grain offering.