Leviticus 4
Modern English Version
The Sin Offering
4 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the children of Israel, saying: When a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord that should not be done, and he violates one of them, 3 if the anointed priest sins, so as to bring guilt on the people, he shall bring for his sin that he has committed a bull without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. 4 He shall bring the bull to the opening of the tent of meeting before the Lord, and he shall lay his hand on the bull’s head and slaughter the bull before the Lord. 5 The anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the tent of meeting. 6 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 Then the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord which is in the tent of meeting, and shall pour the rest of the blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering which is at the door of the tent of meeting. 8 Then he shall remove all the fat of the bull that is for the sin offering—the fat that covers the entrails—and all the fat that is on the entrails, 9 and the two kidneys with the fat that is above them, which is on the loins, and the appendage on the liver which he shall remove with the kidneys, 10 just as these are removed from the bull of the peace sacrifice, and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering. 11 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 bring outside the camp to a ritually clean[a] place at the ash pile and burn it on wood with fire. It shall be burned on the ash heap.
13 If the whole congregation of Israel commits an unintentional sin, and the matter is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the commandments of the Lord should not be done, and they are found guilty, 14 and the sin that they committed against the commandment becomes known, the congregation shall offer a bull for a sin offering, and they will bring it before the tent of meeting. 15 The elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull will be slaughtered before the Lord. 16 The anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood to the tent of meeting. 17 And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil. 18 He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord, which is in the tent of meeting, and he shall pour all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar of the burnt offering that is at the opening of the tent of meeting. 19 He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. 20 He shall do to this bull just as he did to the bull of the sin offering; this is what he will do to it. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven. 21 He shall bring the bull outside the camp, and he shall burn it just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering of the congregation.
22 Whenever a leader sins, and he does unintentionally any one of the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God should not be done and is found guilty, 23 or his sin that he committed was made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a male goat without blemish, 24 and he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and he shall slaughter it in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering before the Lord. It is a sin offering. 25 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and he shall pour out its blood at the base of the altar of the burnt offering. 26 And he shall burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the peace sacrifice, and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
27 If any one of the common people should sin unintentionally by doing one of the things that by the commandments of the Lord should not be done, and is found guilty, 28 or his sin that he committed was made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a female goat without blemish, for his sin that he committed. 29 He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and he shall slaughter the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. 30 The priest shall take some of its blood on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and he shall pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 31 And he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat is removed from the peace sacrifice, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
32 And if he brings a sheep for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish, 33 and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and he shall slaughter it for a sin offering in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering. 34 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar. 35 And he shall remove all the fat, just as the fat of the sheep is removed from the peace sacrifice, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the Lord made by fire. And the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he committed, and he shall be forgiven.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 4:12 “Clean” and “unclean” refer to ceremonial aspects of places, objects, or people.
Leviticus 4
English Standard Version
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.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 4:2 Or by mistake; so throughout Leviticus
- Leviticus 4:13 Or makes a mistake
- Leviticus 4:13 Or suffer for their guilt, or are guilty; also verses 22, 27, and chapter 5
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
