1 And if anyone does wrong by saying nothing when he is put under oath as a witness of something he has seen or had knowledge of, then he will be responsible:
2 If anyone becomes unclean through touching unconsciously some unclean thing, such as the dead body of an unclean beast or of unclean cattle or of any unclean animal which goes flat on the earth, he will be responsible:
3 Or if he becomes unclean through touching unconsciously any unclean thing of man, whatever it may be, when it is made clear to him he will be responsible:
4 Or if anyone, without thought, takes an oath to do evil or to do good, whatever he says without thought, with an oath, having no knowledge of what he is doing; when it becomes clear to him, he will be responsible for any of these things.
5 And whoever is responsible for any such sin, let him make a statement openly of his wrongdoing;
6 And take to the Lord the offering for the wrong which he has done, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin-offering, and the priest will take away his sin.
7 And if he has not money enough for a lamb, then let him give, for his offering to the Lord, two doves or two young pigeons; one for a sin-offering and one for a burned offering.
8 And let him take them to the priest, who will first give the sin-offering, twisting off its head from its neck, but not cutting it in two;
9 And he is to put drops of the blood of the offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood is to be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin-offering.
10 And the second is for a burned offering, in agreement with the law; and the priest will take away his sin and he will have forgiveness.
11 But if he has not enough money for two doves or two young pigeons, then let him give, for the sin he has done, the tenth part of an ephah of the best meal, for a sin-offering; let him put no oil on it, and no perfume, for it is a sin-offering.
12 And let him come to the priest with it, and the priest will take some of it in his hand, to be burned on the altar as a sign, among the offerings of the Lord made by fire: it is a sin-offering.
13 And the priest will take away his sin and he will have forgiveness: and the rest of the offering will be the priest's, in the same way as the meal offering.
14 And the Lord said to Moses,
15 If anyone is untrue, sinning in error in connection with the holy things of the Lord, let him take his offering to the Lord, a male sheep from the flock, without any mark, of the value fixed by you in silver by shekels, by the scale of the holy place.
16 And he is to make payment to the priest for what he has done wrong in relation to the holy thing, together with a fifth part of its value in addition; and the priest will take away his sin by the sheep of his offering, and he will have forgiveness.
17 And if anyone does wrong, and does any of the things which the Lord has given orders are not to be done, though he has no knowledge of it, still he is in the wrong and he is responsible.
18 Let him come to the priest with a sheep, a male without any mark out of the flock, of the value fixed by you, as an offering for his error; and the priest will take away the sin which he did in error, and he will have forgiveness.
19 It is an offering for his error: he is certainly responsible before the Lord.
20 And the Lord said to Moses,
21 If anyone does wrong, and is untrue to the Lord, acting falsely to his neighbour in connection with something put in his care, or something given for a debt, or has taken away anything by force, or has been cruel to his neighbour,
22 Or has taken a false oath about the loss of something which he has come across by chance; if a man has done any of these evil things,
23 Causing sin to come on him, then he will have to give back the thing he took by force or got by cruel acts, or the goods which were put in his care or the thing he came on by chance,
24 Or anything about which he took a false oath; he will have to give it all back, with the addition of a fifth of its value, to him whose property it is, when he has been judged to be in the wrong.
25 Then let him take to the Lord the offering for his wrongdoing; giving to the priest for his offering, a male sheep from the flock, without any mark, of the value fixed by you:
26 And the priest will take away his sin from before the Lord, and he will have forgiveness for whatever crime he has done
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 5
Commentary on Leviticus 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
Le 5:1. Trespass Offerings for Concealing Knowledge.
1. if a soul … hear the voice of swearing—or, according to some, "the words of adjuration." A proclamation was issued calling any one who could give information, to come before the court and bear testimony to the guilt of a criminal; and the manner in which witnesses were interrogated in the Jewish courts of justice was not by swearing them directly, but adjuring them by reading the words of an oath: "the voice of swearing." The offense, then, for the expiation of which this law provides, was that of a person who neglected or avoided the opportunity of lodging the information which it was in his power to communicate.
Le 5:2, 3. Touching Any Thing Unclean.
2. if a soul touch any unclean thing—A person who, unknown to himself at the time, came in contact with any thing unclean, and either neglected the requisite ceremonies of purification or engaged in the services of religion while under the taint of ceremonial defilement, might be afterwards convinced that he had committed an offense.
Le 5:4-19. For Swearing.
4. if a soul swear—a rash oath, without duly considering the nature and consequences of the oath, perhaps inconsiderately binding himself to do anything wrong, or neglecting to perform a vow to do something good. In all such cases a person might have transgressed one of the divine commandments unwittingly, and have been afterwards brought to a sense of his delinquency.
5. it shall be, when he shall be guilty … that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing—make a voluntary acknowledgment of his sin from the impulse of his own conscience, and before it come to the knowledge of the world. A previous discovery might have subjected him to some degree of punishment from which his spontaneous confession released him, but still he was considered guilty of trespass, to expiate which he was obliged by the ceremonial law to go through certain observances.
6-14. he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sins which he hath sinned—A trespass offering differed from a sin offering in the following respects: that it was appointed for persons who had either done evil unwittingly, or were in doubt as to their own criminality; or felt themselves in such a special situation as required sacrifices of that kind [Brown]. The trespass offering appointed in such cases was a female lamb or kid; if unable to make such an offering, he might bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons—the one to be offered for a sin offering, the other for a burnt offering; or if even that was beyond his ability, the law would be satisfied with the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour without oil or frankincense.
15, 16. sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord, &c.—This is a case of sacrilege committed ignorantly, either in not paying the full due of tithes, first-fruits, and similar tribute in eating of meats, which belonged to the priests alone—or he was required, along with the restitution in money, the amount of which was to be determined by the priest, to offer a ram for a trespass offering, as soon as he came to the knowledge of his involuntary fraud.
17-19. if a soul sin … though he wist it not, yet is he guilty—This also refers to holy things, and it differs from the preceding in being one of the doubtful cases,—that is, where conscience suspects, though the understanding be in doubt whether criminality or sin has been committed. The Jewish rabbis give, as an example, the case of a person who, knowing that "the fat of the inwards" is not to be eaten, religiously abstained from the use of it; but should a dish happen to have been at table in which he had reason to suspect some portion of that meat was intermingled, and he had, inadvertently, partaken of that unlawful viand, he was bound to bring a ram as a trespass offering [Le 5:16]. These provisions were all designed to impress the conscience with the sense of responsibility to God and keep alive on the hearts of the people a salutary fear of doing any secret wrong.