Leviticus 5-6

Common English Bible

Unintentional sin

5 If you sin:

by not providing information after hearing a public solemn pledge even though you are a witness, knowing something, or having seen something so that you become liable to punishment;

²or by touching some unclean thing—the dead body of an unclean wild animal, unclean livestock, or unclean swarming creature—but the fact goes unknown so that you become unclean and guilty of sin;

³or by touching human uncleanness—any uncleanness that makes one unclean—and the fact goes unknown, but you later learn of it and become guilty of sin;

⁴or by carelessly swearing to do something, whether bad or good—whatever one might swear carelessly—and the fact goes unknown, but you later learn of it and become guilty of sin concerning one of these things—

⁵at that point, when you have become guilty of sin in one of these ways, you must confess how you have sinned ⁶and bring to the Lord as compensation for the sin that was committed a female from the flock, either a sheep or goat, as a purification offering. The priest will then make reconciliation for you, to remove your sin.

Alternative offerings

⁷If you can’t afford an animal from the flock, you can bring to the Lord as compensation for your sin two doves or two pigeons, one as a purification offering and the other as an entirely burned offering. ⁸You will bring them to the priest, who will first present the one for the purification offering. He will pinch off its head at the back of its neck without splitting it. ⁹Then he will sprinkle some of the blood of the purification offering on the side of the altar. The rest of the blood will be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a purification offering. ¹⁰Then, with the second bird, the priest will perform an entirely burned offering according to the regulation. In this way, the priest will make reconciliation for you because of the sin you committed, and you will be forgiven.

¹¹If you cannot afford two doves or two pigeons, you can bring as the offering for your sin a tenth of an ephah^[a] of choice flour as a purification offering. You must not put any oil on it, nor any frankincense, because it is a purification offering. ¹²You will bring it to the priest, and the priest will take a handful from it—the token portion—and will burn it completely on the altar along with the food gifts for the Lord. It is a purification offering. ¹³In this way, the priest will make reconciliation for you for whichever one of the sins you committed, and you will be forgiven. The rest of the offering will belong to the priest like the grain offering.

The compensation offering

¹⁴The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁵Whenever you commit wrongdoing, unintentionally sinning against any of the Lord’s holy things, you must bring to the Lord as your compensation a flawless ram from the flock, its value calculated in silver shekels according to the sanctuary’s shekel, as a compensation offering. ¹⁶You will make amends for the way you have sinned against the holy thing: you will add one-fifth to its value and give it to the priest. Then the priest will make reconciliation for you with the ram for the compensation offering, and you will be forgiven.

¹⁷If you sin by breaking any of the Lord’s commands, but without realizing it, doing something that shouldn’t be done, and then become guilty and liable to punishment, ¹⁸you must bring a flawless ram from the flock, at the standard value, as a compensation offering to the priest. The priest will make reconciliation for you for the unintentional fault that you committed, even though you didn’t realize it, and you will be forgiven. ¹⁹It is a compensation offering. You have definitely become guilty before the Lord.

6 ^[b] The Lord said to Moses, ²If you sin:

by acting unfaithfully against the Lord;

by deceiving a fellow citizen concerning a deposit or pledged property;

by cheating a fellow citizen through robbery;

³or, though you’ve found lost property, you lie about it;

or by swearing falsely about anything that someone might do and so sin,

⁴at that point, once you have sinned and become guilty of sin, you must return the property you took by robbery or fraud, or the deposit that was left with you for safekeeping, or the lost property that you found, ⁵or whatever it was that you swore falsely about. You must make amends for the principal amount and add one-fifth to it. You must give it to the owner on the day you become guilty. ⁶You must bring to the priest as your compensation to the Lord a flawless ram from the flock at the standard value as a compensation offering. ⁷The priest will make reconciliation for you before the Lord, and you will be forgiven for anything you may have done that made you guilty.

Priestly instructions

⁸^[c] The Lord said to Moses: ⁹Command Aaron and his sons: This is the Instruction for the entirely burned offering—the entirely burned offering that must remain on the altar hearth all night until morning, while the fire is kept burning. ¹⁰The priest will dress in his linen robe, with linen undergarments on his body. Because the fire will have devoured the entirely burned offering on the altar, he must remove the ashes and place them beside the altar. ¹¹The priest will then take off his clothes, dress in a different set of clothes, and take the ashes outside the camp to a clean location. ¹²The altar fire must be kept burning; it must not go out. Each morning the priest will burn wood on it, will lay out the entirely burned offering on it, and will completely burn the fat of the well-being offering on it. ¹³A continuous fire must be kept burning on the altar; it must not go out.

¹⁴This is the Instruction for the grain offering: Aaron’s sons will present it before the Lord in front of the altar. ¹⁵The priest will remove a handful of the choice flour and oil from the grain offering, and all of the frankincense that is on it, and burn this token portion completely on the altar as a soothing smell to the Lord. ¹⁶Aaron and his sons will eat the rest of it. It must be eaten as unleavened bread in a holy place; the priests must eat it in the meeting tent’s courtyard. ¹⁷It must not be baked with leaven. I have made it the priests’ share from my food gifts. It is most holy like the purification offering and the compensation offering. ¹⁸Only the males from Aaron’s descendants can eat it as a permanent portion from the Lord’s food gifts throughout your future generations. Anything that touches these food gifts will become holy.

¹⁹The Lord said to Moses, ²⁰This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must present to the Lord on the day of his anointment: one-tenth of an ephah^[d] of choice flour as a regular grain offering, half in the morning and half in the evening. ²¹It must be prepared on a griddle with oil. You must bring it thoroughly mixed up and must present it as a grain offering of crumbled pieces^[e] as a soothing smell to the Lord. ²²The priest who is anointed from among Aaron’s sons to succeed him will prepare the offering as a permanent portion for the Lord. It will be completely burned as a complete offering. ²³Every priestly grain offering must be a complete offering; it must not be eaten.

²⁴The Lord said to Moses, ²⁵Say to Aaron and his sons: This is the Instruction for the purification offering: The purification offering must be slaughtered before the Lord at the same place the entirely burned offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. ²⁶The priest who offers it as a purification offering will eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place, in the meeting tent’s courtyard. ²⁷Anything that touches the purification offering’s flesh will become holy. If some of its blood splashes on a garment, you must wash the bloodied part in a holy place. ²⁸A pottery container in which the purification offering is cooked must be broken, but if it is cooked in a bronze container, that must be scrubbed and rinsed with water. ²⁹Any male priest can eat it; it is most holy. ³⁰But no purification offering can be eaten if blood from it is brought into the meeting tent to make reconciliation in the holy place; it must be burned with fire.