Leviticus 5

Modern English Version

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^[a] 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.

Offerings With Restitution

¹⁴ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁵ When a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally in regard to the holy things of the Lord, then for his restitution offering to the Lord he shall bring a ram without blemish from the flock—or its equivalent, in your estimation, in silver shekels (using the sanctuary shekel^[b])—for a guilt offering. ¹⁶ And he shall repay the sin that he committed with regard to the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.

¹⁷ If a person sins unintentionally and does any one of the things that by commandments of the Lord should not be done and he is found guilty, he shall bear his iniquity. ¹⁸ He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock—or its equivalent value^[c]—for a guilt offering. The priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven. ¹⁹ It is a guilt offering: He has indeed incurred guilt before the Lord.