Vayikra (Leviticus): Vayikra > Ch 5

Sacrificing for withholding testimony, touching dead animals, touching human uncleanness, swearing in vain

  • If a person sins, whereby he accepts an oath, and he is a witness by seeing or knowing something, yet he does not testify, he shall bear his transgression;
  • Or if a person touches anything unclean, whether it is the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domestic animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping animal, and it was hidden from him, he incurs guilt.
  • Or if he touches the uncleanness of a human, with any uncleanness through which he may become defiled, and it is hidden from him and [later] he knows, he has incurred guilt;
  • Or if a person swears, expressing with lips to do harm or to do good, whatever a man may express in an oath, and it is hidden from him and [later] he knows, he is guilty in any one of these cases.
  • When you incur guilt in any one of these cases, do the following:
    • confess the sin which was committed,
    • Bring your guilt offering to the Lord, a female from the flock either a sheep or a goat, for a sin offering.
    • And the kohen shall make atonement from his sin
  • If you can’t afford a sheep:
    • Bring two turtle doves or two young doves before the Lord, one for a sin offering, and one for a burnt offering.
    • The kohen, shall first offer up that [bird] which is for the sin offering. He shall cut its head opposite the back of its head, but shall not separate [it].
    • He shall sprinkle from the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar, and the remainder of the blood shall be pressed out onto the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.
    • And he shall offer up the second one as a burnt offering, according to the law.
    • Thus the kohen shall make atonement for you, and you shall be forgiven.
  • If you can’t afford two turtle doves or two young doves:
    • Bring one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. Do not put oil over it, nor place frankincense upon it, for it is a sin offering.
    • Bring it to the kohen, and the kohen shall scoop out a fistful as its reminder, and cause it to [go up in] smoke on the altar, upon the fires of the Lord. It is a sin offering.
    • Thus the kohen shall make atonement for your sin, and you shall be forgiven. And it shall belong to the kohen like the meal offering.


Sacrificing for trespassing against things sacred to G-d / breaking G-d’s commandments unintentionally / stealing, lying about or purposely failing to return the property of another person – You must sacrifice an unblemished ram

  • If a person commits a betrayal and trespasses unintentionally against [one] of the things sacred to the Lord, he shall bring as his guilt offering to the Lord an unblemished ram from the flock with a value of silver shekels, in accordance with the shekel of the Sanctuary for a guilt offering. And what he has trespassed against the holy thing he shall pay, and he shall add a fifth of its value to it, and he shall give it to the kohen. The kohen shall then make atonement for him through the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.
  • If a person sins and commits one of the commandments of the Lord which may not be committed, but he does not know, he is guilty, and he shall bear his transgression. He shall bring an unblemished ram from the flock, with the value for a guilt offering, to the kohen. The kohen shall then make atonement for his unintentional sin which he committed and did not know, and he shall be forgiven. It is a guilt offering he has incurred guilt before the Lord.
  • If a person sins, betraying the Lord by falsely denying to his fellow concerning a deposit, or money given in hand, or an object taken by robbery, or he withheld funds from his fellow, or he found a lost article and he denied it and swore falsely regarding any one of all these cases whereby a man may sin, and it shall be, when he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall return the article which he had robbed, or the funds which he had withheld, or the item which had been deposited with him, or the article which he had found; or anything else, regarding which he had sworn falsely, he shall pay it with its principal, adding its fifths to it. He shall give it to its rightful owner on the day [he repents for] his guilt. He shall then bring his guilt offering to the Lord: an unblemished ram from the flock with the [same] value, for a guilt offering, to the kohen. And the kohen shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any one of all [cases] whereby one may commit [a sin], incurring guilt through it.


 
Research & Analysis
  • Betraying the Lord – stealing is betraying G-d.
  • Or if a person swears, and it is hidden from him and [later] he knows, he is guilty. Promise only that which you truly mean to do.