Sin and Guilt

The Law of Sin Offerings

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them, ³ if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then he is to offer to the Lord a bull without defect as a sin offering for his sin which he has committed. ⁴ He shall bring the bull to the doorway of the tent of meeting before the Lord, and he shall lay his hand on the head of the bull and slaughter the bull before the Lord. ⁵ Then the anointed priest is to take some of the blood of the bull and bring it to the tent of meeting, ⁶ and 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 The priest shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the Lord in the tent of meeting; and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And he shall remove from it all the fat of the bull of the sin offering: the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat which is on the entrails, ⁹ and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys ¹⁰ (just as it is removed from the ox of the sacrifice of peace offerings); and the priest is to offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹ But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, along with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its refuse, ¹² that is, all the rest of the bull, he is to bring out to a clean place outside the camp where the fatty ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the fatty ashes are poured out it shall be burned.

¹³ ‘Now if the entire congregation of Israel does wrong unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty; ¹⁴ when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a bull of the herd as a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting.¹⁵ Then the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord. ¹⁶ Then the anointed priest is to bring some of the blood of the bull to the tent of meeting;¹⁷ and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil. ¹⁸ He shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the Lord in the tent of meeting; and all the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering which is at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹⁹ And he shall remove all its fat from it and offer it up in smoke on the altar. ²⁰ He shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; he shall do the same with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven. ²¹ Then he is to bring the bull out to a place outside the camp and burn it just as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.

²² ‘When a leader sins and unintentionally does any of the things which the Lordhis God has commanded not to be done, and he becomes guilty, ²³ if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without defect. ²⁴ And he shall lay his hand on the head of the male goat and slaughter it in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering before the Lord; it is a sin offering. ²⁵ Then the priest is to 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 the rest ofits blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. ²⁶ And he shall offer all its fat up in smoke on the altar as in the case of the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his sin, and he will be forgiven.

²⁷ ‘Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty, ²⁸ if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, then he shall bring as his offering a goat, a female without defect, for his sin which he has committed.²⁹ And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering. ³⁰ The priest shall then take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar. ³¹ Then he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat was removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar as a soothing aroma to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

³² ‘But if he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without defect. ³³ And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering.³⁴ And the priest is to 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 all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar. ³⁵ Then he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offerings, and the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar, on the offerings by fire to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven.

The Law of Guilt Offerings

5 ‘Now if a person sins after he hears a public order to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his punishment. ² Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean animal, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or a carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him and he is unclean, then he will be guilty. ³ Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort his uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty. ⁴ Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter people speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty of one of these things. ⁵ So it shall be when he becomes guilty of one of these things, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned.⁶ He shall also bring his guilt offering to the Lord for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.

⁷ ‘But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord his guilt offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young doves, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. ⁸ He shall bring them to the priest, who shall first offer that which is for the sin offering, and shall pinch off its head at the front of its neck, but he shall not sever it. ⁹ He shall also sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar: it is a sin offering. ¹⁰ The second he shall then prepare as a burnt offering according to the ordinance. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed, and it will be forgiven him.

¹¹ ‘But if his means are insufficient for two turtledoves or two young doves, then for his offering for that which he has sinned, he shall bring the tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering; he shall not put oil on it or place incense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹² He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as its memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar, with the offerings of the Lord by fire: it is a sin offering. ¹³ So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has committed from one of these, and it will be forgiven him; then the rest shall become the priest’s, like the grain offering.’”

¹⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁵ “If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the Lord’s holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your assessment in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, as a guilt offering. ¹⁶ And he shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.

¹⁷ “Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, he is still guilty and shall bear his punishment. ¹⁸ He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock, according to your assessment, as a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he committed unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. ¹⁹ It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the Lord.”

Guilt Offering

6 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and disavows the rightful claim of his neighbor regarding a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or regarding robbery, or he has extorted from his neighbor, ³ or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins regarding any of the things that people do; ⁴ then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall restore what he took by robbery or acquired by extortion, or the deposit which was entrusted to him, or the lost property which he found, ⁵ or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it a fifth more. He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering. ⁶ Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your assessment, as a guilt offering, ⁷ and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.”

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