Leviticus 4-5

Living Bible

4 Then the Lord gave these further instructions to Moses:

² “Tell the people of Israel that these are the laws concerning anyone who unintentionally breaks any of my commandments. ³ If a priest sins unintentionally and so brings guilt upon the people, he must offer a young bull without defect as a sin offering to the Lord. ⁴ He shall bring it to the door of the Tabernacle, and shall lay his hand upon its head and kill it there before Jehovah. ⁵ Then the priest shall take the animal’s blood into the Tabernacle, ⁶ and shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil that bars the way to the Holy of Holies. ⁷ Then the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the incense altar before the Lord in the Tabernacle; the remainder of the blood shall be poured out at the base of the altar for burnt offerings, at the entrance to the Tabernacle. ⁸ Then he shall take all the fat on the entrails, ⁹ the two kidneys and the loin fat on them, and the gall bladder, ¹⁰ and shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering, just as in the case of a bull or cow sacrificed as a thank offering. ^11-12 But the remainder of the young bull—the skin, meat, head, legs, internal organs, and intestines—shall be carried to a ceremonially clean place outside the camp—a place where the ashes are brought from the altar—and burned there on a wood fire.

¹³ “If the entire nation of Israel sins without realizing it and does something that Jehovah has said not to do, all the people are guilty. ¹⁴ When they realize it, they shall offer a young bull for a sin offering, bringing it to the Tabernacle ¹⁵ where the leaders^[a] of the nation shall lay their hands upon the animal’s head and kill it before the Lord. ¹⁶ Then the priest shall bring its blood into the Tabernacle, ¹⁷ and shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil. ¹⁸ Then he shall put blood upon the horns of the altar there in the Tabernacle before the Lord, and all the remainder of the blood shall be poured out at the base of the burnt offering altar, at the entrance to the Tabernacle. ¹⁹ All the fat shall be removed and burned upon the altar. ²⁰ He shall follow the same procedure as for a sin offering; in this way the priest shall make atonement for the nation, and everyone will be forgiven. ²¹ The priest shall then cart the young bull outside the camp and burn it there, just as though it were a sin offering for an individual, only this time it is a sin offering for the entire nation.

²² “If one of the leaders sins without realizing it and is guilty of disobeying one of God’s laws, ²³ as soon as it is called to his attention he must bring as his sacrifice a male goat without any physical defect. ²⁴ He shall lay his hand upon its head and kill it at the place where the burnt offerings are killed, and present it to the Lord. This is his sin offering. ²⁵ Then the priest shall take some of the blood of this sin offering and place it with his finger upon the horns of the altar of burnt offerings, and the rest of the blood shall be poured out at the base of the altar. ²⁶ All the fat shall be burned upon the altar, just as if it were the fat of the sacrifice of a thank offering;^[b] thus the priest shall make atonement for the leader concerning his sin, and he shall be forgiven.

²⁷ “If any one of the common people sins and doesn’t realize it, he is guilty. ²⁸ But as soon as he does realize it, he is to bring as his sacrifice a female goat without defect to atone for his sin. ²⁹ He shall bring it to the place where the animals for burnt offerings are killed, and there lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering and kill it. ³⁰ And the priest shall take some of the blood with his finger and smear it upon the horns of the burnt offering altar. Then the priest shall pour out the remainder of the blood at the base of the altar. ³¹ All the fat shall be taken off, just as in the procedure for the thank offering sacrifice, and the priest shall burn it upon the altar; and the Lord will appreciate it. Thus the priest shall make atonement for that man, and he shall be forgiven.

³² “However, if he chooses to bring a lamb as his sin offering, it must be a female without physical defect. ³³ He shall bring it to the place where the burnt offerings are killed, and lay his hand upon its head and kill it there as a sin offering. ³⁴ The priest shall take some of the blood with his finger and smear it upon the horns of the burnt offering altar, and all the rest of the blood shall be poured out at the base of the altar. ³⁵ The fat shall be used just as in the case of a thank offering lamb—the priest shall burn the fat on the altar as in any other sacrifice made to Jehovah by fire; and the priest shall make atonement for the man, and his sin shall be forgiven.

5 “Anyone refusing to give testimony concerning what he knows about a crime is guilty.

² “Anyone touching anything ceremonially unclean—such as the dead body of an animal forbidden for food, wild or domesticated, or the dead body of some forbidden insect—is guilty, even though he wasn’t aware of touching it. ³ Or if he touches human discharge of any kind, he becomes guilty as soon as he realizes that he has touched it.

⁴ “If anyone makes a rash vow, whether the vow is good or bad, when he realizes what a foolish vow he has taken, he is guilty.

⁵ “In any of these cases, he shall confess his sin ⁶ and bring his guilt offering to the Lord, a female lamb or goat, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be freed from his sin, and need not fulfill the vow.^[c]

⁷ “If he is too poor to bring a lamb to the Lord, then he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons as his guilt offering; one of the birds shall be his sin offering and the other his burnt offering. ⁸ The priest shall offer as the sin sacrifice whichever bird is handed to him first, breaking its neck, but not severing its head from its body. ⁹ Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood at the side of the altar and the rest shall be drained out at the base of the altar; this is the sin offering. ¹⁰ He shall offer the second bird as a burnt offering, following the customary procedures that have been set forth; so the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and he shall be forgiven.

¹¹ “If he is too poor to bring turtledoves or young pigeons as his sin offering, then he shall bring a tenth of a bushel of fine flour. He must not mix it with olive oil or put any incense on it because it is a sin offering. ¹² He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take out a handful as a representative portion and burn it on the altar just as any other offering to Jehovah made by fire; this shall be his sin offering. ¹³ In this way the priest shall make atonement for him for any sin of this kind, and he shall be forgiven. The rest of the flour shall belong to the priest, just as was the case with the grain offering.”

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁵ “If anyone sins by unintentionally defiling what is holy, then he shall bring a ram without defect, worth whatever fine^[d] you charge against him, as his guilt offering to the Lord. ¹⁶ And he shall make restitution for the holy thing he has defiled, or the tithe omitted,^[e] by paying for the loss, plus a 20 percent penalty; he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.

^17-18 “Anyone who disobeys some law of God without realizing it is guilty anyway, and must bring his sacrifice of a value determined by Moses. This sacrifice shall be a ram without blemish taken to the priest as a guilt offering; with it the priest shall make atonement for him, so that he will be forgiven for whatever it is he has done without realizing it. ¹⁹ It must be offered as a guilt offering, for he is certainly guilty before the Lord.”