Lê-vi Ký 5

Sins that call for a sin offering

¹If someone hears a public call for witnesses made under a curse, and they saw what happened or know about it but do not speak up, they have sinned and will carry their guilt. ²Or someone may touch anything unclean, such as the dead body of an unclean wild animal, unclean livestock or an unclean creature that swarms, without realizing it. They have become unclean and are guilty. ³Or someone may come into contact with human uncleanness of any kind that makes a person unclean, and not notice it. Once they learn of it, they are guilty. ⁴Or someone may swear without thinking that they will do something, harmful or good, the kind of oath people make in haste, and then forget it. When they realize it, they are guilty in any of these cases. ⁵Whoever is guilty in any of these ways must confess the sin they have committed ⁶and bring to the LORD what is owed for the sin: a female animal from the flock, a lamb or a goat, as a sin offering. The priest will make atonement for them for their sin.^{a 7}If a lamb is more than they can afford, they may bring the LORD two turtledoves or two young pigeons to pay for their sin. One of them is for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.^{b 8}The priest receives them and first presents the bird for the sin offering. He breaks its neck at the front but does not pull the head off.^{c 9}Some of its blood he is to sprinkle on the side of the altar, and what is left is to be pressed out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. ¹⁰He is to offer the second bird as a burnt offering in the prescribed way. Through this the priest makes atonement for them for their sin, and they will be forgiven.

An offering for those who are poor

¹¹If even two turtledoves or two young pigeons are beyond their means, the one who sinned is to bring about 2 quarts of fine flour as a sin offering. No oil or frankincense is to be put on it, since it is a sin offering. ¹²The flour is brought to the priest. He takes a full handful from it as its memorial portion and turns it into smoke on the altar, with the food offerings to the LORD. It is a sin offering. ¹³The priest is to make atonement for them for the sin they committed in any one of these cases; then they will be forgiven. The rest of the flour belongs to the priest, as with the grain offering.’”

The guilt offering

¹⁴The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, ¹⁵“If anyone sins without intending to and wrongs the LORD in the matter of his holy things, they must bring a ram from the flock with no defect to the LORD as their guilt offering. Its value is set in shekels of silver by the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering.^{de 16}They must also pay back in full what they wrongly kept from the holy things, with a fifth of its value added, and give it to the priest. With the ram of the guilt offering the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.

¹⁷Suppose someone sins by breaking one of the commands of the LORD, doing what must not be done, and is unaware of it. They are guilty all the same and will carry their guilt,^{f 18}and must bring a ram without defect from the flock, of the set value, to the priest as a guilt offering. So the priest will make atonement for them for the error they did not know they had made, and they will be forgiven. ¹⁹It is a guilt offering. They have certainly become guilty before the LORD.”^g

Paying back what was wrongly taken

²⁰The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, ²¹“Suppose someone sins and betrays the LORD by deceiving a neighbor: denying that they hold goods the neighbor gave them to keep or as security, or taking the neighbor’s goods by robbery, or extorting from them,^{h 22}or keeping lost property they found and denying it, or taking a false oath about any of the wrongs people commit, ²³then, being guilty of such a sin, they must hand back the goods they seized by robbery or extortion, the deposit placed with them, or the lost item they found,^{i 24}or anything at all that was the subject of their false oath. They must pay it back in full and a fifth more besides, and the owner is to receive it on the day of their guilt offering.^{j 25}They must bring to the priest their guilt offering for the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, of the set value. ²⁶Before the LORD the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven for any one of the wrongs that brought them guilt.”