Special Types of Accidental Sins

5 “‘If a person ·is ordered to tell in court [^Lhears a public oath and he has been a witness of] what he has seen or what he knows and he does not ·tell the court [^Lmake it known], he is guilty of sin.

² “‘Or someone might touch something unclean, such as the dead body of an unclean wild animal or an unclean farm animal or an unclean crawling animal [11:24–28, 32–40]. Even if he does not know that he touched it, he will still be unclean and guilty of sin.

³ “‘Someone might touch human uncleanness—anything that makes someone unclean—and not know it. But when he learns about it, he will be guilty.

⁴ “‘Or someone might make a promise before the Lord ·without thinking [rashly]. It might be a [rash] promise to do something bad or something good; it might be about anything. Even if he forgets about it, when he remembers, he will be guilty [Deut. 23:22–23; Eccl. 5:4].

⁵ “‘When anyone is guilty of any of these things, he must ·tell how he sinned [^Lconfess his sin]. ⁶ He must bring an offering to the Lord as a penalty for sin; it must be a female lamb or goat from the flock. The priest will ·perform the acts to remove that person’s sin so he will belong to the Lord [^Lmake atonement for his sin].

⁷ “‘But if the person cannot afford a lamb, he must bring two ·doves [turtledoves] or two young pigeons to the Lord as the penalty for his sin. One bird must be for a ·sin [or purification] offering [4:3], and the other must be for a whole burnt offering [1:1–17]. ⁸ He must bring them to the priest, who will first offer the one for the ·sin [or purification] offering [4:3]. He will ·pull [wring] the bird’s head from its neck, but he will not ·pull it completely off [sever it]. ⁹ He must ·sprinkle [dash] the blood from the ·sin [purification] offering [4:3] on the side of the altar, and then he must pour the rest of the blood at the ·bottom [base; foundation] of the altar; it is a ·sin [or purification] offering [4:3]. ¹⁰ Then the priest must offer the second bird as a whole burnt offering, as the ·law [regulation] says [1:14–17]. In this way the priest ·will remove the person’s sin so he will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him [^Lmakes atonement for him and he is forgiven].

¹¹ “‘If the person cannot afford two ·doves [turtledoves] or two pigeons, he must bring about ·two quarts of [^Lone-tenth of an ephah of] ·fine [choice] flour as an ·offering for sin [purification offering; 4:3]. He must not put oil or ·incense [frankincense] on the flour, because it is a ·sin [or purification] offering. ¹² He must bring the flour to the priest. The priest will take a handful of the flour as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar on top of the offerings made by fire to the Lord; it is a ·sin [or purification] offering [4:3]. ¹³ In this way the priest ·will remove the person’s sins so he will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him [^Lmakes atonement for him and he will be forgiven]. What is left of the sin offering belongs to the priest, like the ·grain [^Lgift; tribute] offering [2:10].’”

The Penalty Offering

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁵ “If a person ·accidentally [inadvertently; unintentionally; 4:2] sins and ·does something against [is unfaithful/disloyal toward] the holy things of the Lord, he must bring from the flock a male sheep ·that has nothing wrong with it [unblemished]. This will be his ·penalty [guilt; reparation] offering to the Lord. Its value in silver must be correct as set by the Holy Place measure. It is a ·penalty [guilt; reparation] offering. ¹⁶ That person must pay for the sin he did against the holy thing, adding one-fifth to its value. Then he must give it all to the priest. In this way the priest will ·remove the person’s sin so he will belong to the Lord [make atonement for him], by using the male sheep as the ·penalty [guilt; reparation] offering. And ·the Lord will forgive the person [^Lhe will be forgiven].

¹⁷ “If a person sins and does something the Lord has commanded not to be done, even if he does not know it, he is still guilty. He is responsible for his sin. ¹⁸ He must bring the priest a male sheep from the flock, one that ·has nothing wrong with it [is unblemished] and that is worth the correct amount. It will be a ·penalty [guilt; reparation] offering. Though the person sinned without knowing it, with this offering the priest will ·remove the sin so the person will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him [make atonement for him and he will be forgiven]. ¹⁹ The person is guilty of doing wrong, so he must give the ·penalty [guilt; reparation] offering to the Lord.”