Moses receives detailed forgiveness protocols rather than his typical role as lawgiver demanding obedience, marking a rare shift from commanding compliance to providing restoration pathways.
Leviticus 5
1“‘If anyone sins, in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he doesn’t report it, then he shall bear his iniquity.
2“‘Or if anyone touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean animal, or the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and it is hidden from him, and he is unclean, then he shall be guilty.
3“‘Or if he touches the uncleanness of man, whatever his uncleanness is with which he is unclean, and it is hidden from him; when he knows of it, then he shall be guilty.
4“‘Or if anyone swears rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good—whatever it is that a man might utter rashly with an oath, and it is hidden from him—when he knows of it, then he will be guilty of one of these.
5It shall be, when he is guilty of one of these, he shall confess that in which he has sinned;
6and he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned: a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.
7“‘If he can’t afford a lamb, then he shall bring his trespass offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.
8He shall bring them to the priest, who shall first offer the one which is for the sin offering. He shall wring off its head from its neck, but shall not sever it completely.
9He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.
10He shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the ordinance; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has sinned, and he shall be forgiven.
11“‘But if he can’t afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for that in which he has sinned, one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it, and he shall not put any frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.
12He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as the memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, on the offerings of the LORD made by fire. It is a sin offering.
13The priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin that he has sinned in any of these things, and he will be forgiven; and the rest shall be the priest’s, as the meal offering.’”
Laws for Guilt Offerings
14The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
15“If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly regarding the LORD’s holy things, then he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation in silver by shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.
16He shall make restitution for that which he has done wrong regarding the holy thing, and shall add a fifth part to it, and give it to the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and he will be forgiven.
17“If anyone sins, doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he didn’t know it, he is still guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.
18He shall bring a ram without defect from of the flock, according to your estimation, for a trespass offering, to the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning the thing in which he sinned and didn’t know it, and he will be forgiven.
19It is a trespass offering. He is certainly guilty before the LORD.”
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Theme
Leviticus 5 details specific circumstances requiring sin offerings and introduces guilt offerings for unintentional sins against holy things. The chapter addresses sins of omission (failing to testify, unrecognized uncleanness, rash oaths) and provides graduated offerings based on economic ability—from livestock to birds to flour. It emphasizes that both intentional and unintentional sins require atonement, with restitution required for wrongs against sacred property, demonstrating God's provision for forgiveness across all social classes.
Context
This chapter continues the sacrificial system begun in chapters 1-4, transitioning from general sin offerings to specific situations and introducing the guilt offering that will be further developed in chapter 7.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-4 Specific Sins Requiring Offerings Four categories of sins: failure to testify, touching unclean things, contact with human uncleanness, and rash oaths.
- 5-6 Confession and Standard Sin Offering Required confession and the standard offering of a female lamb or goat from the flock.
- 7-10 Alternative Offering for the Poor Two birds (turtledoves or pigeons) as sin and burnt offerings for those who cannot afford livestock.
- 11-13 Flour Offering for the Destitute Fine flour without oil or frankincense as the most economical sin offering option.
- 14-19 Guilt Offerings for Sacred Violations Ram offerings with monetary restitution plus twenty percent penalty for sins against holy things.
Laws for Sin Offerings
4:1–5:13 law instruction solemn
Comprehensive laws for sin offerings covering unintentional sins by priests, the congregation, leaders, and common people. These offerings provide a means of atonement and restoration of relationship with God.
person_contrast
Moses receives detailed forgiveness protocols rather than his typical role as lawgiver demanding obedience, marking a rare shift from commanding compliance to providing restoration pathways.
Laws for Guilt Offerings
5:14–5:19 law instruction solemn
Laws for guilt offerings addressing trespasses against holy things and unknown sins. These offerings require both sacrifice and restitution, emphasizing complete restoration.
person_contrast
Moses receives divine instructions for guilt offerings that uniquely combine both sacrificial atonement and monetary restitution, creating a dual-restoration system unparalleled in other Levitical offerings.
Insights
Moses receives divine instructions for guilt offerings that uniquely combine both sacrificial atonement and monetary restitution, creating a dual-restoration system unparalleled in other Levitical offerings.
Cross-References
Connected passages across Scripture
Leviticus 5:1 2 references
Lexicals 2
Leviticus 5:2 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 7:21 Lexical
When anyone touches any unclean thing, the uncleanness of man, or an unclean animal, or any unclean abomination, and eat…
Leviticus 11:31 Lexical
These are they which are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean u…
Leviticus 22:5 Lexical
or whoever touches any creeping thing by which he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may become unclean, whateve…
Deuteronomy 14:8 Lexical
The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat. You shal…
Leviticus 11:8 Lexical
You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you.
Leviticus 5:3 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 22:5 Lexical
or whoever touches any creeping thing by which he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may become unclean, whateve…
Numbers 19:13 Lexical
Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles the LORD’s tabernacle…
Leviticus 7:21 Lexical
When anyone touches any unclean thing, the uncleanness of man, or an unclean animal, or any unclean abomination, and eat…
Numbers 19:16 Lexical
“Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall…
Leviticus 15:23 Lexical
If it is on the bed, or on anything she sits on, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until the evening.
Leviticus 5:6 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 4:28 Lexical
if his sin which he has sinned is made known to him, then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without defec…
Leviticus 19:22 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has c…
Leviticus 4:23 Lexical
if his sin in which he has sinned is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without defect.
Leviticus 12:7 Lexical
He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement for her; then she shall be cleansed from the fountain of her blood…
Leviticus 7:7 Lexical
“‘As is the sin offering, so is the trespass offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with th…
Leviticus 5:7 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 12:8 Lexical
If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons: the one for a burnt offering, and…
Leviticus 14:22 Lexical
and two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the ot…
Leviticus 12:6 Lexical
“‘When the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the door…
Leviticus 1:14 Lexical
“‘If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall offer his offering from turtledoves or of youn…
Numbers 6:10 Lexical
On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting.
Leviticus 5:9 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 1:15 Lexical
The priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood shall be drained…
Leviticus 4:25 Lexical
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 bur…
Leviticus 4:34 Lexical
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 bur…
2 Kings 9:33 Lexical
He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses. T…
Leviticus 16:15 Lexical
“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do wit…
Leviticus 5:10 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 4:35 Lexical
He shall remove all its fat, like the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall…
Leviticus 19:22 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has c…
Numbers 6:11 Lexical
The priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because h…
2 Chronicles 29:24 Lexical
Then the priests killed them, and they made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Isra…
Numbers 15:28 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs when he sins unwittingly before the LORD. He shall make atonement…
Leviticus 5:11 5 references
Lexicals 5
Numbers 5:15 Lexical
then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah of barley m…
Leviticus 14:22 Lexical
and two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the ot…
Leviticus 14:30 Lexical
He shall offer one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, which ever he is able to afford,
Numbers 28:5 Lexical
with one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil.
Leviticus 1:14 Lexical
“‘If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall offer his offering from turtledoves or of youn…
Leviticus 5:12 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 2:2 Lexical
He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. He shall take his handful of its fine flour, and of its oil, with all it…
Numbers 5:26 Lexical
The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward s…
Leviticus 2:9 Lexical
The priest shall take from the meal offering its memorial, and shall burn it on the altar, an offering made by fire, of…
Leviticus 4:35 Lexical
He shall remove all its fat, like the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall…
Leviticus 2:16 Lexical
The priest shall burn as its memorial part of its crushed grain and part of its oil, along with all its frankincense. It…
Leviticus 5:13 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 4:35 Lexical
He shall remove all its fat, like the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall…
Leviticus 19:22 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has c…
Numbers 15:28 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs when he sins unwittingly before the LORD. He shall make atonement…
Leviticus 4:26 Lexical
All its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall make aton…
Leviticus 4:20 Lexical
He shall do this with the bull; as he did with the bull of the sin offering, so he shall do with this; and the priest sh…
Leviticus 5:15 5 references
Lexicals 5
Numbers 18:16 Lexical
You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels o…
Leviticus 27:3 Lexical
your valuation of a male from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the she…
Ezekiel 43:23 Lexical
When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without defect and a ram out of the flock without defe…
Ezekiel 18:24 Lexical
“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominati…
Ezekiel 14:13 Lexical
“Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff…
Leviticus 5:16 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 19:22 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has c…
Numbers 5:7 Lexical
then he shall confess his sin which he has done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, add to it the fift…
Numbers 5:8 Lexical
But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to…
Numbers 15:28 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs when he sins unwittingly before the LORD. He shall make atonement…
Leviticus 4:35 Lexical
He shall remove all its fat, like the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall…
Leviticus 5:17 2 references
Lexicals 2
Leviticus 5:18 5 references
Lexicals 5
Numbers 15:28 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs when he sins unwittingly before the LORD. He shall make atonement…
Leviticus 19:22 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has c…
Numbers 15:25 Lexical
The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it w…
Numbers 5:8 Lexical
But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to…
Ezekiel 43:25 Lexical
“Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering. They shall also prepare a young bull and a ram out of…
Interlinear
Word-by-word original language
v. 1
v. 2
v. 3
v. 4
v. 5
v. 6
v. 7
v. 8
v. 9
v. 10
v. 11
v. 12
v. 13
v. 14
v. 15
v. 16
v. 17
v. 18
v. 19
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Semantic Range
Theological Significance
Translation Notes
Key Passages