Unintentional sin
5 If you sin:
by not providing information after hearing a public solemn pledge even though you are a witness, knowing something, or having seen something so that you become liable to punishment;
2 or by touching some unclean thing—the dead body of an unclean wild animal, unclean livestock, or unclean swarming creature—but the fact goes unknown so that you become unclean and guilty of sin;
3 or by touching human uncleanness—any uncleanness that makes one unclean—and the fact goes unknown, but you later learn of it and become guilty of sin;
4 or by carelessly swearing to do something, whether bad or good—whatever one might swear carelessly—and the fact goes unknown, but you later learn of it and become guilty of sin concerning one of these things—
5 at that point, when you have become guilty of sin in one of these ways, you must confess how you have sinned 6 and bring to the Lord as compensation for the sin that was committed a female from the flock, either a sheep or goat, as a purification offering. The priest will then make reconciliation for you, to remove your sin.
Alternative offerings
7 If you can’t afford an animal from the flock, you can bring to the Lord as compensation for your sin two doves or two pigeons, one as a purification offering and the other as an entirely burned offering. 8 You will bring them to the priest, who will first present the one for the purification offering. He will pinch off its head at the back of its neck without splitting it. 9 Then he will sprinkle some of the blood of the purification offering on the side of the altar. The rest of the blood will be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a purification offering. 10 Then, with the second bird, the priest will perform an entirely burned offering according to the regulation. In this way, the priest will make reconciliation for you because of the sin you committed, and you will be forgiven.
11 If you cannot afford two doves or two pigeons, you can bring as the offering for your sin a tenth of an ephah[a] of choice flour as a purification offering. You must not put any oil on it, nor any frankincense, because it is a purification offering. 12 You will bring it to the priest, and the priest will take a handful from it—the token portion—and will burn it completely on the altar along with the food gifts for the Lord. It is a purification offering. 13 In this way, the priest will make reconciliation for you for whichever one of the sins you committed, and you will be forgiven. The rest of the offering will belong to the priest like the grain offering.
The compensation offering
14 The Lord said to Moses, 15 Whenever you commit wrongdoing, unintentionally sinning against any of the Lord’s holy things, you must bring to the Lord as your compensation a flawless ram from the flock, its value calculated in silver shekels according to the sanctuary’s shekel, as a compensation offering. 16 You will make amends for the way you have sinned against the holy thing: you will add one-fifth to its value and give it to the priest. Then the priest will make reconciliation for you with the ram for the compensation offering, and you will be forgiven.
17 If you sin by breaking any of the Lord’s commands, but without realizing it, doing something that shouldn’t be done, and then become guilty and liable to punishment, 18 you must bring a flawless ram from the flock, at the standard value, as a compensation offering to the priest. The priest will make reconciliation for you for the unintentional fault that you committed, even though you didn’t realize it, and you will be forgiven. 19 It is a compensation offering. You have definitely become guilty before the Lord.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 5:11 Two quarts; one ephah is approximately twenty quarts dry.