Leviticus 5

If a person sins in this way: he hears the public call to testify under oath, and he is a witness, whether he saw the thing or came to know of it, and he does not speak up, then he must carry his own guilt.

1And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.

Note"Soul" in the King James simply means a person, a human being; it does not refer to a soul as distinct from a body. The situation described is a public adjuration: when a crime or loss had occurred and the culprit was unknown, a call went out in the community, backed by an oath or curse, requiring anyone with knowledge to come forward. Someone who had seen or heard something and stayed silent came under that oath himself. "Bear his iniquity" is a legal phrase meaning he carries the liability for the wrong and answers for it.

2Or if a person touches anything unclean, whether the dead body of an unclean wild animal, or of unclean livestock, or of unclean crawling creatures, and he does not realize it, he is still unclean, and he is guilty.

2Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.

Note"Unclean" is a ritual status, not dirtiness or sin. Certain animals, and contact with dead bodies, made a person temporarily unfit to approach the sanctuary or eat holy food until the prescribed washing and waiting had been done. "Creeping things" covers small animals that move close to the ground, lizards, mice, insects and the like.

3Or if he touches human uncleanness, any kind of uncleanness that makes a person unclean, and he does not realize it, then when he does find out, he is guilty.

3Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty.

Note"Human uncleanness" refers to the bodily conditions treated elsewhere in Leviticus: contact with a corpse, bodily discharges, childbirth, certain skin diseases. Again the issue is ritual status, not hygiene or wrongdoing.

4Or if a person makes an oath, speaking out loud that he will do something bad or something good, whatever it is that a person may swear to do without thinking, and he does not realize it, then when he does find out, he is guilty in that matter.

4Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these.

NoteThe oath in view is a rash one, a promise blurted out without thought, to do something or to abstain from something, which the speaker then forgets or cannot keep. In this culture an oath spoken aloud was binding whether or not it was meant seriously.

5So when a person is guilty in any one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed.

5And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing:

6He must bring his trespass offering to the LORD for the sin he committed: a female from the flock, either a lamb or a young goat, as a sin offering. The priest will make atonement for him for his sin.

6And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.

NoteThe King James uses two different terms in this verse, "trespass offering" and "sin offering," translating two Hebrew words that are otherwise distinct sacrifices. Here the two are used together, which is unusual and much discussed. "Make an atonement" translates a verb meaning to wipe clean or to cover over, the priest's act of clearing the offerer's liability by means of the sacrifice.

7If he cannot afford a lamb, then for the wrong he has done he must bring to the LORD two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering.

7And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.

NoteA turtledove is a small wild dove, nothing to do with turtles. The graded scale here (lamb, then birds, then flour) lets a poor person make the same offering at a cost he can meet; the birds were the cheapest livestock available.

8He must bring them to the priest, who will offer first the one that is for the sin offering. The priest will wring its head at the neck, but not pull the head all the way off.

8And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off his head from his neck, but shall not divide it asunder:

NoteThe priest pinches or twists through the bird's neck to kill it and release the blood, but leaves the head attached, since the whole small carcass is needed for the ritual that follows.

9He will sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood will be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.

9And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar: it is a sin offering.

NoteThe altar stood in the courtyard of the sanctuary; blood poured at its base drained into the ground there. Blood was the element that carried the ritual effect of the sacrifice.

10He will prepare the second bird as a burnt offering, in the way that is laid down. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he committed, and he will be forgiven.

10And he shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.

NoteA burnt offering was burned up entirely on the altar rather than eaten. "According to the manner" means following the standard procedure already set out for such offerings.

11But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then the one who sinned must bring as his offering a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering. He must not put oil on it or frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.

11But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering.

NoteAn ephah was a dry measure of roughly twenty to twenty-two liters, so a tenth of one is about two liters, a couple of quarts of flour. Frankincense is a fragrant tree resin, expensive and imported, burned for its scent. Oil and frankincense normally went with a grain offering; both are left off here because this flour is standing in for a sin offering, not a gift.

12He must bring it to the priest, and the priest will take a handful of it as the memorial portion and burn it on the altar, on top of the offerings made by fire to the LORD. It is a sin offering.

12Then shall he bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it, even a memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: it is a sin offering.

NoteThe "memorial portion" translates a Hebrew term for the handful burned on the altar to represent the whole offering, the part that goes up in smoke on God's behalf, while the rest stays with the priests.

13In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he committed in any one of these ways, and he will be forgiven. What is left over will belong to the priest, as with the grain offering.

13And the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: and the remnant shall be the priest’s, as a meat offering.

Note"Meat offering" in 1611 English meant a food offering, and here specifically the grain offering of flour described in Leviticus 2; "meat" had not yet narrowed to mean flesh. Priests lived off these portions, which is why the remainder is theirs.

14Then the LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

14And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

15If a person is unfaithful and sins without meaning to, in regard to any of the holy things of the LORD, then he must bring to the LORD as his trespass offering a ram from the flock with no flaw, worth the set value in silver shekels, by the sanctuary weight. It is a trespass offering.

15If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:

Note"The holy things of the LORD" are goods owed or dedicated to the sanctuary (tithes, firstfruits, offerings, property vowed to God) which a person might use or consume by mistake. A shekel was a weight of silver, not a coin (coinage did not yet exist), about eleven or twelve grams; "the shekel of the sanctuary" was the official standard weight kept at the sanctuary, to stop disputes over short measure. "Without blemish" means physically sound and unmarked, the requirement for any animal brought to the altar.

16He must make up for the harm he has done to the holy thing, adding a fifth of its value, and give it to the priest. The priest will make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and he will be forgiven.

16And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

NoteRestitution plus a fifth, twenty per cent, was the standard penalty rate for wrongful use of another's property. The compensation goes to the priests as the sanctuary's representatives, and is separate from the ram sacrificed.

17And if a person sins and does any of the things the LORD's commandments forbid, even though he did not know it, he is still guilty and must carry his own guilt.

17And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.

Note"Wist" is an old past tense of a verb meaning to know: he did not know. The point of the paragraph is that guilt attaches to the act even when the person was unaware of it, and must still be dealt with once discovered.

18He must bring to the priest a ram from the flock with no flaw, worth the set value, as a trespass offering. The priest will make atonement for him for the mistake he made without knowing it, and he will be forgiven.

18And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.

19It is a trespass offering. He has certainly done wrong against the LORD.

19It is a trespass offering: he hath certainly trespassed against the LORD.