Laws for Sin Offerings

4 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^(A)If anyone sins unintentionally^[a] in any of the Lord's commandments ^(B)about things not to be done, and does any one of them, ³ if it is the anointed priest who ^(C)sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed ^(D)a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. ⁴ He shall bring the bull to the ^(E)entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the Lord. ⁵ And the anointed priest ^(F)shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting, ⁶ and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and ^(G)sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. ⁷ And the priest ^(H)shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord that is in the tent of meeting, and ^(I)all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall remove from it, ^(J)the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails ^9 (K)and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys ¹⁰ (just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offerings); and the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹ But ^(L)the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung— ¹² all the rest of the bull—he shall carry ^(M)outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall ^(N)burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up.

^13 (O)“If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally^[b] and ^(P)the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt,^{[c] 14 (Q)}when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ And the elders of the congregation ^(R)shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull shall be killed before the Lord. ¹⁶ Then ^(S)the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into 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 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the tent of meeting before the Lord, and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹⁹ And all its fat he shall take from it and burn on the altar. ²⁰ Thus shall he do with the bull. As he did ^(T)with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this. ^(U)And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven. ²¹ And he shall carry the bull ^(V)outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.

²² “When a leader sins, ^(W)doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, ²³ or ^(X)the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish, ²⁴ and ^(Y)shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord; it is a sin offering. ^25 (Z)Then the priest shall 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 pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. ²⁶ And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like ^(AA)the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So ^(AB)the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.

²⁷ “If ^(AC)anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, ^28 (AD)or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. ^29 (AE)And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. ³⁰ And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. ³¹ And ^(AF)all its fat he shall remove, ^(AG)as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a ^(AH)pleasing aroma to the Lord. ^(AI)And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.

³² “If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring ^(AJ)a female without blemish ^33 (AK)and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. ³⁴ Then the priest shall 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 pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. ³⁵ And all its fat he shall remove ^(AL)as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the Lord's food offerings. ^(AM)And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

14 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah knew ^(A)that the king's heart went out to Absalom. ² And Joab sent to ^(B)Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, “Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. ^(C)Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead. ³ Go to the king and speak thus to him.” So Joab ^(D)put the words in her mouth.

⁴ When the woman of Tekoa came to the king, ^(E)she fell on her face to the ground and paid homage and said, ^(F)“Save me, O king.” ⁵ And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, ^(G)“Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. ⁶ And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. ⁷ And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would ^(H)destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor ^(I)remnant on the face of the earth.”

⁸ Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” ⁹ And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, ^(J)“On me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father's house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.” ¹⁰ The king said, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.” ¹¹ Then she said, “Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that ^(K)the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not destroyed.” He said, ^(L)“As the Lord lives, ^(M)not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

¹² Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” ¹³ And the woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against ^(N)the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring ^(O)his banished one home again. ¹⁴ We must all die; we are ^(P)like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means ^(Q)so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. ¹⁵ Now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid, and your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. ¹⁶ For the king will hear and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from ^(R)the heritage of God.’ ¹⁷ And your servant thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,’ for my lord the king is ^(S)like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!”

¹⁸ Then the king answered the woman, “Do not hide from me anything I ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” ¹⁹ The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered and said, ^(T)“As surely as you live, my lord the king, one cannot turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who commanded me; ^(U)it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant. ²⁰ In order to change the course of things your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of ^(V)the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.”

²¹ Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom.” ²² And Joab fell on his face to the ground and paid homage ^(W)and blessed the king. And Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant.” ²³ So Joab arose and went to ^(X)Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴ And the king said, “Let him dwell apart in his own house; he is not to come into my presence.” So Absalom lived apart in his own house and did not come into the king's presence.

²⁵ Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. ^(Y)From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. ²⁶ And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he ^(Z)cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels^[a] by the king's weight. ²⁷ There were born ^(AA)to Absalom three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman.

²⁸ So Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, without coming into the king's presence. ²⁹ Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. And he sent a second time, but Joab would not come. ³⁰ Then he said to his servants, “See, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.” So Absalom's servants set the field on fire.^{[b] 31} Then Joab arose and went to Absalom at his house and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” ³² Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent word to you, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to ask, “Why have I come from ^(AB)Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still.” Now therefore let me go into the presence of the king, ^(AC)and if there is guilt in me, let him put me to death.’” ³³ Then Joab went to the king and told him, and he summoned Absalom. So he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.