2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: a‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them,
3aif the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned ba young bull without blemish as a csin offering.
4 He shall bring the bull ato the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the Lord.
5 Then the anointed priest shall atake some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting.
6 The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord, in front of the aveil of the sanctuary.
7 And the priest shall aput some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour bthe remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
8 He shall take from it all the fat of the bull as the sin offering. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails,
9 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove,
10aas it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering.
11aBut the bull’s hide and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and offal—
12 the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, awhere the ashes are poured out, and bburn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.
13 ‘Now aif the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, band the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which should not be done, and are guilty;
14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting.
15 And the elders of the congregation ashall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord. Then the bull shall be killed before the Lord.
16aThe anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood to the tabernacle of meeting.
17 Then the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil.
18 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
19 He shall take all the fat from it and burn it on the altar.
20 And he shall do awith the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering; thus he shall do with it. bSo the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.
21 Then he shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is a sin offering for the assembly.
22 ‘When a1 ruler has sinned, and adone something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord his God in anything which should not be done, and is guilty,
23 or aif his sin which he has committed1 comes to his knowledge, he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a male without blemish.
24 And ahe shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it at the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord. It is a sin offering.
25aThe priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.
26 And he shall burn all its fat on the altar, like athe fat of the sacrifice of the peace offering. bSo the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.
27a‘If1 anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and is guilty,
28 or aif his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.
29aAnd he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering.
30 Then the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar.
31aHe shall remove all its fat, bas fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a csweet aroma to the Lord. dSo the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
32 ‘If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, ahe shall bring a female without blemish.
33 Then he shall alay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it as a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering.
34 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar.
35 He shall remove all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering. Then the priest shall burn it on the altar, aaccording to the offerings made by fire to the Lord. bSo the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
And the Lord spake ... Israel - This formula is the commencement of a distinct section of the Law.
Leviticus 4:2
If a soul shall sin - The sin-offering was a new thing, instituted by the Law. The older kinds of sacrifice Leviticus 2:1; Leviticus 3:1 when offered by individuals were purely voluntary: no special occasions were prescribed. But it was plainly commanded that he who was conscious that he had committed a sin should bring his sin-offering. In the abridged rules for sin-offerings in Numbers 15:22-31, the kind of sin for which sin-offerings were accepted is contrasted with that which cut off the perpetrator from among his people (compare Leviticus 4:22 with Leviticus 4:30). The two classes are distinguished in the language of our Bible as sin through ignorance and presumptuous sin. The distinction is clearly recognized in Psalms 19:12-13 and Hebrews 10:26-27. It seems evident that the classification thus indicated refers immediately to the relation of the conscience to God, not to outward practices, nor, immediately, to outward actions.
The presumptuous sinner, literally he who sinned "with a high hand," might or might not have committed such a crime as to incur punishment from the civil law: it was enough that he had with deliberate purpose rebelled against God (see Proverbs 2:13-15), and ipso facto was "cut off from among his people" and alienated from the divine covenant (see Leviticus 7:20; Exodus 31:14; compare Matthew 12:31; I John 5:16). But the other kind of sin, that for which the sin-offering was appointed, was of a more complicated nature. It appears to have included the entire range of "sins, negligences and ignorances" for which we are accustomed to ask forgiveness. sin-offerings were required not only when the conscience accused the offender of having yielded to temptation, but sometimes for what were breaches of the Law committed strictly in ignorance Leviticus 4:13, Leviticus 4:23, Leviticus 4:28; Leviticus 5:17, and sometimes on account of ceremonial pollution. They are thus to be regarded as protests against everything which is opposed to the holiness and purity of the divine Law. They were, in short, to be offered by the worshipper as a relief to the conscience whenever he felt the need of atonement.
Sin through ignorance - Sin through error; that is, through straying from the right way. See Psalms 119:67; Ecclesiastes 5:6.
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