Beginning

Sins for which people must give an offering

5 A person may know about something that is wrong. He may not speak about it at a public meeting. That person is sinning.

² God has said that some animals and insects are not clean. A person may touch a dead animal or an insect like that. If he does, he is doing something wrong. It is a sin even if he did not really want to touch it.

³ A person may touch something that another person has made bad. If he does, he is doing something wrong. He might not know that it is bad, but he is still doing a wrong thing.

⁴ A person is doing a wrong thing if he says any careless promise. The promise might be good or bad. People will tell him that he has not obeyed God's rules. Then he will know that he has sinned.

⁵ A person must tell the priest if he has done any of these things. ⁶ He must give a sheep or a goat for a sin offering. Then the Lord will not be angry with him. The priest will kill the animal as a sacrifice to atone for that sin.

What the people should do if they do not have much money

⁷ A person may not have money to buy a sheep or a goat. If he does not, he must buy two doves or two pigeons.^[a] He must give them to the Lord. One bird will be a sin offering. The second bird will be a burnt offering.

⁸ The priest will bring one of the birds to the altar. It is the sin offering. He will break the neck of the bird, but he will not pull the head off. ⁹ He will shake some of the blood onto the side of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not shake onto the floor. He must pour it in front of the altar. ¹⁰ The priest will burn the other bird. God will not be angry with the man when the priest does this.

¹¹ A person may not have money to buy two doves or two pigeons. If he does not, he must give a tenth of an ephah (about two litres) of flour. He must not put oil or incense on the flour because it is a sin offering. ¹² He must take it to the priest. The priest will burn some of the flour on the altar as a special part of the flour. It is a sin offering to the Lord. ¹³ He will forgive the person when the priest does this. The flour that he did not burn is like the grain offering. It belongs to the priests.” ’

The gift to the Lord when a person does wrong things

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁵ ‘If a person does not obey the Lord's holy rules he is sinning. He must give a male sheep to the Lord. He must do this even if he did not know that he had sinned. It is a gift to the Lord to pay for his sins. It must be a perfect male animal. It must be worth the correct amount of money. ¹⁶ He must also give money worth one fifth more. The person must give the sheep and the money to the priest. The priest will sacrifice the sheep. It is an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. God will forgive the person.

¹⁷ A person might do wrong things against the Lord. But the person might not know that they were wrong. He is sinning. ¹⁸ When he knows about it, he must bring a sheep to the priest. The animal must be a perfect male. The sheep must be worth the right amount of money. The priest will give the sheep to the Lord. It will be an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. Then the Lord will forgive the person. ¹⁹ The sheep is an offering because the person did not obey the Lord.’

6 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘A person may take something that is not his. Or he may find it and keep it. He may tell his friend that he has not taken it. He might not give him the correct price for something. But then he is not obeying the Lord. ³ A person may speak words that are not true. That is a sin. A person may keep something that belongs to another person. He does not give it back. That is a wrong thing to do. He might find something and then he might say that it is his. If it is not his, he is not obeying God. ⁴ He has done something that is wrong. So he must show that he is sorry. He must give back anything that is not his. He must give back anything that he has found. He must give back anything that he has kept. He must give it to the person to whom it belongs. ⁵ He must give back everything and one fifth more. He must also, on the same day, give a gift to the Lord. ⁶ He must bring a sheep to the priest. The sheep must be a perfect male animal. The sheep must be worth the right amount of money. ⁷ The priest will give the sheep to the Lord. It is an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. Then the Lord will forgive the person.’

Rules for the priests

⁸ The Lord said to Moses, ⁹ ‘Tell Aaron and his sons my rules. They must burn these gifts on the altar. The fire must burn all night. ¹⁰ When the morning comes, the priest must dress himself in his linen clothes. The linen must be next to his skin. He must take the ashes from the fire and he must put them at the side of the altar. ¹¹ Then he must dress himself in other clothes. He must carry the ashes outside the camp and he must put them in a special place. ¹² The fire that is on the altar must never stop burning. Every morning the priest must put wood on it. He must also put on it the gifts and the fat of the friendship offerings. ¹³ The fire must always burn. It must not go out.

¹⁴ These are the rules for the gift of grain. Aaron's sons must bring it in front of the altar to give to the Lord. ¹⁵ A priest must take some of the flour and oil. He must mix this special part with incense and he must burn all of it on the altar. The smell of them while they are burning will give the Lord pleasure. ¹⁶ The priests will make into bread the flour that he did not burn. They must not use yeast to make the bread. They must eat the bread in a holy place, in the yard outside the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁷ The bread is for the priests because it is a holy part of a gift. It is holy, like the offerings for sin. And it is like the gifts when somebody does anything wrong. ¹⁸ Any son, grandson or male of Aaron's family can eat the bread. It is his usual part of the burnt offerings to the Lord. A person who touches the bread will become holy.’

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁰ ‘When Aaron is anointed, Aaron and his sons must give an offering to the Lord. It must be a tenth of an ephah (about two litres) of best flour. They must bring half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. ²¹ They must mix it with oil and they must cook it on a flat plate. Then they must break it into pieces and they must offer it to the Lord. The smell of it will give the Lord pleasure. ²² The son whom they will anoint to take Aaron's place must prepare the offering. ²³ All of the gifts that the priests give to God must be burnt completely. Nobody should eat them.’

The sin offering

²⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁵ ‘Tell Aaron and his sons this rule. When a person does wrong things he must give an animal to the Lord. The animal will be holy. The person must kill the animal at the north side of the altar. That is where they kill the offerings for sin. ²⁶ The priest who offered it will eat his part of the gift in a holy place. That is the yard outside the Tent of Meeting. ²⁷ If anyone or anything touches the meat they will become holy. If the blood touches the clothes of a person, he must wash them in a holy place. ²⁸ If a person cooks the meat in a clay pot, he must break the pot. He must break it when he has cooked the meat. If a person cooks the meat in a metal pot, he must wash the pot. He must wash it well when he has cooked the meat. And he must wash it again with clean water. ²⁹ The meat is holy.^[b] Only the priests' sons can eat it. ³⁰ They must take the blood of a sin offering into the Tent of Meeting. It is a sacrifice to atone for sin. Nobody should eat any of that offering. The priest must burn it.

7 These are the rules for a most holy offering. A person may be sorry for the wrong things that he has done. That person must obey these rules. ² The priest must kill an animal at the north side of the altar. He must throw the blood onto the sides of the altar. ³ The priest will bring all the fat from the tail and the inside parts to the altar. ⁴ He will bring the kidneys and the best piece of the liver. ⁵ Then he will burn the pieces on the altar. They are a gift to the Lord to make a person clean from sin. ⁶ Aaron's sons can eat the meat that is not burnt. They must eat it in a holy place because it is most holy.

⁷ The rules are the same for sacrifices for sin and for a person who is sorry for his sins. The gifts of meat are for the priest who brings them to the altar. ⁸ The skin of the animal is for the priest. ⁹ People may give gifts of grain that they cooked in an oven or on a flat plate. They should give them all to the priest. ¹⁰ Grain that is dry is also a gift. And grain that a man mixes with oil is also a gift. They should give them to Aaron's sons.

The Friendship offering

¹¹ These rules are for friendship offerings to the Lord. ¹² If a man wants to thank God, he must give an animal and flat loaves of bread. He must mix the flour for the bread with oil. He must not mix the flour with yeast. ¹³ He must also give other loaves of bread to God. He must make these with flour, oil and yeast. ¹⁴ A man must offer one of each kind of loaf to the Lord. These belong to the priest who throws the blood on the altar. ¹⁵ The person must not keep the meat from the animal until the next day. He must eat it on the day that he offers it.

¹⁶ The gift to God may be for a promise. The gift may be because the person loves God. That person will not have to eat it all on the same day. He can eat some of it on the next day. ¹⁷ On the third day, there may still be some meat that he has not eaten. If there is, he must burn it. ¹⁸ If the person eats the meat on the third day, God will not accept the gift. The meat is not good. The person who eats it will not give God pleasure.

¹⁹ Some meat may touch something that is not clean. Nobody should eat that meat. People must burn it. Only a clean person can eat the meat that is a gift to God. ²⁰ A person who is not clean might eat the friendship offering to the Lord. If he does, they must send him away from Israel's people. ²¹ A person might touch something that is not clean. He must not eat the meat of the offering to the Lord. That person must not eat it if he has touched an unclean animal or an unclean person. If he does eat it, they must send him away. They must send him away from Israel's people.’

Israel's people must not eat blood or fat

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ ‘Tell Israel's people this. They must not eat the fat from sheep, cows or goats. ²⁴ A person can use the fat of a dead animal that he has found, but he must not eat it. ²⁵ They must not eat the fat of an animal that they have burnt as a gift on the Lord's altar. They must send away from God's people anyone who does eat it. ²⁶ You must not eat the blood of an animal or of a bird even if you are living in another country. ²⁷ You must send away from Israel's people any person who eats blood.’

Moses tells the priests which parts of the animal they can eat

²⁸ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁹ ‘Say to Israel's people, “When a person gives an animal as a friendship offering, he must bring part of it to the Lord. ³⁰ He must carry the offering in his own hands to the fire. He must bring the fat and the meat of the ribs and he must lift the meat to the Lord. ³¹ The priest will burn the fat at the altar. He will lift the meat of the ribs to God. Then Aaron's sons can eat it. ³² The top part of the back right leg of the animal is a gift. ³³ It is for the priest who offers the blood and the fat. ³⁴ The ribs and the top part of the right leg are gifts. They are from the friendship offering. God wants Aaron and his sons to have them. People must give these parts of their gift to the priests. ³⁵ The Lord gave this part of the Israelites' offerings to Aaron's sons. He gave it to them on the day when they became the Lord's priests. ³⁶ The Lord told the Israelites that they must do this. He told them that on the day that Aaron's sons became priests. All their sons and grandsons must always give these offerings to the priests.” ’

³⁷ These are all the rules that a person must use. They are for when he gives a gift to God. They are the rules for offerings of grain and the friendship offering. And they are rules for the offerings that people give to take away their sin. The rules tell them how to make Aaron's sons priests. And they tell people who have done bad things what to do. They must show God that they are sorry. ³⁸ Israel's people were in the Sinai desert. The Lord gave the rules to Moses on Sinai mountain. That was on the day that the Lord spoke to the people. He told them that they should bring their offerings to him there.