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Sins Requiring a Sin Offering
Leviticus 5:1–13 — Sins Requiring a Sin Offering. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1“If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî- wə·ne·p̄eš ṯe·ḥĕ·ṭā lō·w yag·gîḏ wə·šā·mə·‘āh qō·wl ’ā·lāh wə·hū ‘êḏ ’ōw rā·’āh ’ōw yā·ḏā‘ ’im- wə·nā·śā ‘ă·wō·nōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And a soul, if it sins — and heard the voice of adjuration, and he a witness, whether he saw or knew — if he does not tell it, then he bears his iniquity.
Where the English smooths the original
אלה does not mean a curse in general, but an oath, as an imprecation upon one's self ( equals the "oath of cursing" in Numbers 5:21 ); and the sin referred to did not consist in the fact that a person heard a curse, imprecation, or blasphemy, and gave no evidence of itKeil narrows ’ālāh to a judicial self-curse, and locates the sin in withheld testimony, not in merely overhearing blasphemy.
It is with reference to this law that we are told, “whoso is partner with a thief, hateth his own soul, he heareth cursing and betrayeth it not,” i.e., he hears the adjuration of the judges, and yet stifles his evidence, and thus becomes a partner with the culprit.Ellicott reads Proverbs 29:24 as a direct echo of this statute — the silent witness becomes an accomplice.
The expression, Shall bear his iniquity, is very emphatic, and imports that guilt, like a grievous burden, shall lie heavy upon him.
This injunction is a direct condemnation of the approved teaching of Italian moral theologians of paramount authority throughout the Roman Church, who maintain that, in case a crime is not known to others, a witness in a court of justice "may, nay, he is bound to, say that the accused has not committed it"A polemical aside, retained for its force: the Pulpit Commentary turns the verse against a casuistry that permits perjury to shield a hidden crime.
2Or if a person touches anything unclean—whether the carcass of any unclean wild animal or livestock or crawling creature—even if he is unaware of it, he is unclean and guilty.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ōw ne·p̄eš ’ă·šer tig·ga‘ bə·ḵāl dā·ḇār ṭā·mê ’ōw ḇə·niḇ·laṯ ṭə·mê·’āh ḥay·yāh ṭə·mê·’āh ’ōw bə·niḇ·laṯ bə·hê·māh ’ōw bə·niḇ·laṯ ṭā·mê še·reṣ wə·ne‘·lam mim·men·nū wə·hū ṭā·mê wə·’ā·šêm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Or a soul who touches any unclean thing — whether the carcass of an unclean wild beast, or unclean cattle, or an unclean swarming thing — and it is hidden from him: and he is unclean and guilty.
Where the English smooths the original
if he do it unwittingly, yet that would not excuse him, because he should have been more diligent and circumspect to avoid all unclean things. Hereby God designed to awaken men to watchfulness against, and repentance for, their unknown or unobserved sins.Poole cross-refers this to Psalm 19:12 ("cleanse thou me from secret faults") — the law's pedagogy of unknown sin.
It was only when thoughtlessness made him forget his duty, and when reflection brought to his mind and conscience the violation of the law, that he was required to confess his sin, and bring a trespass offering.
if he had unconsciously defiled himself by touching unclean objects, and had consequently neglected the purification prescribed for such cases. In this case, if he found it out afterwards, he had contracted guilt which needed expiation.
3Or if he touches human uncleanness—anything by which one becomes unclean—even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ōw ḵî yig·ga‘ ’ā·ḏām bə·ṭum·’aṯ lə·ḵōl ṭum·’ā·ṯōw ’ă·šer yiṭ·mā bāh wə·ne‘·lam mim·men·nū wə·hū yā·ḏa‘ wə·’ā·šêm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Or if he touches the uncleanness of a man — to any of his uncleanness by which one becomes unclean — and it is hidden from him, and he knew it: and he is guilty.
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and he knoweth it, and feeleth that he is guilty. That is, he afterwards becomes conscious that he has contracted the defilement, and feels his guilt.Ellicott's better rendering: the guilt is not merely incurred but felt, the moment the hidden thing surfaces in conscience.
As soon as he knoweth it, he must not delay to make his peace with God. And though it was sin before, though not known, yet the knowledge of it made it worse, and therefore required the more speedy repentance.
Or if he touch the uncleanness of man,.... The dead body of a man, or the bone of a dead body, or a grave, or any profluvious or menstruous personGill itemizes the human sources of defilement that chs. 12–15 will treat in full.
4Or if someone swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do anything good or evil—in whatever matter a man may rashly pronounce an oath—even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty in the matter.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ōw kî ne·p̄eš ṯiš·šā·ḇa‘ lə·ḇaṭ·ṭê ḇiś·p̄ā·ṯa·yim lə·hê·ṭîḇ ’ōw lə·hā·ra‘ lə·ḵōl ’ă·šer hā·’ā·ḏām yə·ḇaṭ·ṭê biš·ḇu·‘āh wə·ne‘·lam mim·men·nū wə·hū- yā·ḏa‘ wə·’ā·šêm lə·’a·ḥaṯ mê·’êl·leh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Or a soul who swears, babbling with the lips, to do good or to do evil — to anything that a man may babble with an oath — and it is hidden from him, and he knew it: and he is guilty in one of these.
Where the English smooths the original
The Heb. verb occurs in the Pi‘el form ( baṭṭç ) only here and Psalm 106:33 ; in sound it resembles the first part of βαττολογήσητε in Matthew 6:7 . To take an oath or vow lightly, without considering its purport, is a breach of the 3rd commandmentCambridge supplies both the lexical rarity and the suggestive sound-echo with the "vain repetitions" of Matthew 6:7.
Pronouncing - Idly speaking Psalm 106:33 . The reference is to an oath to do something uttered in recklessness or passion and forgotten as soon as uttered.
Whosoever shall, in a passion or otherwise, make an oath to do a person an injury, or to do him a kindness, and afterward, forgetting his oath, shall fail in the performance, so soon as he recollects himself he shall make atonement for his offence.
5If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hā·yāh ḵî- ye’·šam lə·’a·ḥaṯ mê·’êl·leh wə·hiṯ·wad·dāh ’ă·šer ḥā·ṭā ‘ā·le·hā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And it shall be, when he is guilty in one of these, that he shall confess what he has sinned concerning it.
Where the English smooths the original
The confession must be particular; that he hath sinned in that thing. Deceit lies in generals; many will own they have sinned, for that all must own; but their sins in any one particular they are unwilling to allow. The way to be assured of pardon, and armed against sin for the future, is to confess the exact truth.Henry's signature insistence on particular confession — generality, he says, is where self-deceit hides.
and this he was to do before he brought his offering, or at least at the time of his bringing it; for without confession his offering would be of no availGill records the rabbinic principle (Maimonides) that "atonement is not made by them without repentance and confession."
make a voluntary acknowledgment of his sin from the impulse of his own conscience, and before it come to the knowledge of the world.
6and he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin he has committed: a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering. And the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hê·ḇî ’eṯ- ’ă·šā·mōw Yah·weh ‘al ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯōw ’ă·šer ḥā·ṭā nə·qê·ḇāh kiś·bāh ’ōw- śə·‘î·raṯ ‘iz·zîm min- haṣ·ṣōn lə·ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ hak·kō·hên wə·ḵip·per ‘ā·lāw mê·ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he shall bring his guilt to Yahweh for his sin which he has sinned — a female from the flock, a ewe-lamb or a she-goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.
Where the English smooths the original
אשׁם ( Leviticus 5:6 ) does not mean either guilt-offering or debitum (Knobel), but culpa, delictum, reatus, as in Leviticus 5:7 : "as his guilt," i.e., for the expiation of his guilt, which he had brought upon himself.Keil reads ’āšām here as the abstract "guilt" itself, not the named trespass-offering of vv.14ff — the philological key to the chapter's ambiguity.
this was typical of the sacrifice of Christ, whose soul was made an offering for sin, "Asham" a trespass offering, Isaiah 53:10 where the same word is used as hereGill links the very word ’āšām to Isaiah 53:10, where the Servant's soul is made an ’āšām — the one verbal bridge from this law to the Suffering Servant.
There is no special legislation for the high priest, the whole congregation, or the prince, as in the case with the ( chātāth ) sin offering, which is described in the former chapter. The spiritual officer and temporal sovereign are here on a level with the ordinary layman.
A female; because those sins were less than others, as being committed ignorantly or unwittingly, and therefore God would accept a meaner sacrifice for them.
7If, however, he cannot afford a lamb, he may bring to the LORD as restitution for his sin two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- lō ṯag·gīʿ yā·ḏōw dê śeh wə·hê·ḇî ’eṯ- Yah·weh ’ă·šā·mōw ’ă·šer ḥā·ṭā šə·tê ṯō·rîm ’ōw- šə·nê ḇə·nê- yō·w·nāh ’e·ḥāḏ lə·ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ wə·’e·ḥāḏ lə·‘ō·lāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And if his hand cannot reach enough for a lamb, then he shall bring for his guilt which he has sinned two turtledoves or two young pigeons to Yahweh — one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.
Where the English smooths the original
The poor man who was unable to bring a sheep or she-goat, might bring two turtle-doves, as these were plentiful and cheap in Palestine.
There is thus typically set forth the freedom with which acceptance through the great propitiation is offered to all without respect of persons. The non-bloody substitute, being permitted only as an exception for the benefit of the very poor and only in the four cases above specified, does not invalidate the general rule that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.The Pulpit Commentary draws the principle that would crown the chapter: graded mercy, yet the rule of blood unbroken (Hebrews 9:22).
Which was for that particular sin, and therefore offered first before the burnt-offering, which was for sins in general; to teach us not to rest in general confessions and repentance, but distinctly and particularly, as far as we can, to search out, and confess, and loathe, and leave our particular sins
8He is to bring them to the priest, who shall first present the one for the sin offering. He is to twist its head at the front of its neck without severing it;
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hê·ḇî ’ō·ṯām ’el- hak·kō·hên ri·šō·w·nāh wə·hiq·rîḇ ’eṯ- ’ă·šer la·ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ ū·mā·laq ’eṯ- rō·šōw mim·mūl ‘ā·rə·pōw wə·lō yaḇ·dîl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he shall bring them to the priest, and he shall present the one for the sin offering first, and shall pinch off its head from the front of its neck, but he shall not divide it asunder.
Where the English smooths the original
The head was to be pinched off from opposite to its neck, i.e., in the nape just below the head, though without entirely severing it, that is to say, it was to be pinched off sufficiently to kill the bird and allow the blood to flow out.Keil's exact account of mālaq: a pinch at the nape, lethal yet not severing — the act the verifier marks as the rare verbal bond to Leviticus 1:15.
It will be seen that it is here distinctly ordered that in this operation the head of the bird is not to be severed from its body. Herein it differed from the burnt offering in Leviticus 1:15 .Ellicott adds the Second-Temple detail: the priest cut the neck "with the nail of his thumb."
the sin offering was offered first, which was to make atonement for sin, and then the burnt offering, to denote the divine acceptance of itGill's image: the sin offering is the advocate who goes in first to appease, after which "the gift goes in after him."
9then he is to sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood is drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hiz·zāh mid·dam ha·ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ ‘al- qîr ham·miz·bê·aḥ wə·han·niš·’ār bad·dām yim·mā·ṣêh ’el- yə·sō·wḏ ham·miz·bê·aḥ hū ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar — it is a sin offering.
Where the English smooths the original
The same word as in Leviticus 4:6 ; Leviticus 4:17 , but the sprinkling is not done with the finger, nor is the blood put on the horns of the altar, but upon the side of it.Cambridge pinpoints the ritual economy: the same verb, a humbler manner.
The blood is simply to be thrown on the walls of the altar, whilst in the ordinary sin offering, the priest had not only to dip his finger seven times in the blood of the victim, but had to put it on the horns of the altar
this might be an emblem both of the drops of blood which fell from Christ in the garden, and of the shedding of his blood upon the cross, whereby remission of sin was obtained, and atonement madeGill reads the wrung-out blood typologically — Gethsemane and Calvary in the squeezing of the bird.
10And the priest must prepare the second bird as a burnt offering according to the ordinance. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’eṯ- ya·‘ă·śeh haš·šê·nî ‘ō·lāh kam·miš·pāṭ hak·kō·hên wə·ḵip·per ‘ā·lāw mê·ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯōw ’ă·šer- ḥā·ṭā wə·nis·laḥ lōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the second he shall make a burnt offering, according to the ordinance; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin which he has sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.
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The priest shall make an atonement for him; either declaratively, he shall pronounce him to be pardoned; or typically, with respect to Christ.Poole guards the divine prerogative: the priest at most declares a pardon that God alone grants.
make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him. (d) Or, declare him to be purged of that sin.The Geneva margin offers the Reformed gloss: the priest "declares" rather than effects the purgation.
and so forgiveness of sin with God proceeds upon the atonement made by the blood of Christ, Hebrews 9:22 . God never took one step towards it, without a regard to Christ the propitiation for sinGill grounds every Old-Testament pardon in the future blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:22) — a cross-Testament tie the apparatus flags as thematic, not verbal.
11But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he may bring a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering. He must not put olive oil or frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- lō ṯaś·śîḡ yā·ḏōw liš·tê ṯō·rîm ’ōw liš·nê ḇə·nê- yō·w·nāh wə·hê·ḇî ’eṯ- qā·rə·bā·nōw ’ă·šer ḥā·ṭā ‘ă·śî·riṯ hā·’ê·p̄āh sō·leṯ lə·ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ lō- yā·śîm še·men wə·lō- yit·tên ‘ā·le·hā lə·ḇō·nāh ‘ā·le·hā kî hî ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But if his hand cannot reach two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he who sinned shall bring his offering — a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it, nor lay frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.
Where the English smooths the original
only those who were in a state of grace could offer a minchah, and not a man who had fallen from grace through sin. As such a man could not offer to the Lord the fruits of the Spirit of God and of prayer, he was not allowed to add oil and incense, as symbols of the Spirit and praise of God, to the sacrifice with which he sought the forgiveness of sin.Keil's theological reading of the omission: the lapsed sinner may not bring the symbols of the Spirit until grace is restored.
Either as a fit expression of his sorrow for his sins, in the sense whereof, he was to abstain from things pleasant; or to signify, that by his sins he deserved to be utterly deprived both of the oil of gladness, the gifts, graces, and comforts of the Holy Ghost, and of God’s gracious acceptance of his prayers and sacrifices, which is signified by incense, Psalm 141:2 .
because it is a sin offering, and not a Minchah or meat offering (see Leviticus 2:1 ), therefore it shall have no oil or frankincense, otherwise its distinguishing features as such would be destroyed.
12He is to bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful from it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar atop the food offerings to the LORD; it is a sin offering.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
we·hĕ·ḇî·’āh ’el- hak·kō·hên wə·qā·maṣ hak·kō·hên mə·lō·w qum·ṣōw ’eṯ- mim·men·nāh ’az·kā·rā·ṯāh wə·hiq·ṭîr ham·miz·bê·ḥāh ‘al ’iš·šê Yah·weh hî ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall grasp from it the fullness of his fist as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar atop the fire offerings of Yahweh — it is a sin offering.
Where the English smooths the original
even a memorial thereof; to bring to mind his sin, and the goodness of God in admitting of an offering for it, and forgiving it upon thatGill reads the burned handful as a double remembrance: of the sin and of the mercy that receives the offering.
After he separated a handful of the flour, which was burnt on the altar as a memorial to the Lord (see Leviticus 2:12 ), the officiating priest consumed the rest.
Either it is placed upon the offerings which have been brought during the day, or it is burnt in the same way as other fire-offerings.Cambridge weighs the ambiguity of "upon the fire-offerings" — placement atop the day's offerings, or merely the same manner of burning.
13In this way the priest will make atonement for him for any of these sins he has committed, and he will be forgiven. The remainder will belong to the priest, like the grain offering.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hak·kō·hên wə·ḵip·per ‘ā·lāw ‘al- mê·’a·ḥaṯ mê·’êl·leh ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯōw ’ă·šer- ḥā·ṭā wə·nis·laḥ lōw wə·hā·yə·ṯāh lak·kō·hên kam·min·ḥāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin which he has sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him; and the remainder shall belong to the priest, like the grain offering.
Where the English smooths the original
The word remnant is not in the original, and is better left out, since with the exception of the handful which he took out to burn upon the altar, the whole tenth part of the ephah of fine flour belonged to the priest.Ellicott corrects the supplied "remnant": almost the whole offering, not a leftover, became the priest's.
As it was in the meat-offering, where all, except one handful, fell to the share of the priests. See Leviticus 2:3 7:9 . And this is the rather mentioned here, because in the foregoing sacrifices, Leviticus 4:3 13 , &c., the priest had no part reserved for him.
By burning the handful of flour brought by him, as an emblem of the painful sufferings of Christ, whereby he made atonement for the sins of his peopleGill reads even the burned flour as a figure of Christ's atoning suffering — mercy spelled out to the poorest offerer.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The chapter opens not with an act of malice but with four small failures of an ordinary nephesh — a single breathing soul (5:1). Keil groups them precisely: "three special examples of sin on the part of the common Israelite, all sins of omission and rashness of a lighter kind." The first is silence. A man has heard "the voice of ’ālāh" (5:1) — and Keil insists the word "does not mean a curse in general, but an oath, as an imprecation upon one's self," the judge's solemn adjuration in open court. To know the truth and not bring it to the front (the verb yaggîḏ, H5046) is to share the guilt sworn against the crime. Ellicott hears Proverbs 29:24 behind the law: "he hears the adjuration of the judges, and yet stifles his evidence, and thus becomes a partner with the culprit." The second and third cases (5:2–3) turn from speech to touch: a hand that brushes a carcass (nᵉbêlâh, H5038) or the impurity of a man, where the defilement "was veiled from him" (wə·ne‘·lam, H5956). The fourth (5:4) is the rash oath, sworn in the verb Cambridge calls so rare it "occurs in the Pi‘el form only here and Psalm 106:33" — bāṭāʼ, to babble. In every case the structure is the same: guilt incurred while hidden, then known. Poole reads the divine intent: "Hereby God designed to awaken men to watchfulness against, and repentance for, their unknown or unobserved sins."
Before a single animal is named, the law commands a mouth to open: "he shall confess" — wə·hiṯ·wad·dāh (H3034, 5:5). Matthew Henry presses what kind of confession: "The confession must be particular; that he hath sinned in that thing. Deceit lies in generals... The way to be assured of pardon, and armed against sin for the future, is to confess the exact truth." Gill records the rabbinic axiom that "without confession his offering would be of no avail." Then comes the victim, and with it the chapter's great philological knot. The man brings his ’āšām (H817, 5:6) — and Keil warns the word "does not mean either guilt-offering or debitum, but culpa, delictum, reatus," his actual guilt, brought to the LORD. Yet the same offering is at once called a ḥaṭṭāʼâh, a sin offering; the AV's "trespass offering" here, Barnes says flatly, "is out of place." One thing is unmistakable: Ellicott observes that, unlike chapter 4, "there is no special legislation for the high priest, the whole congregation, or the prince... The spiritual officer and temporal sovereign are here on a level with the ordinary layman." The female lamb is the same for every rank.
From verse 7 the law bends downward to meet the poor, and the bending is the gospel of the passage. "If his hand cannot reach enough for a lamb" (5:7) — the Hebrew idiom of the hand that will not stretch — he brings two birds. If even those are beyond him (5:11), a tenth of an ephah of sōleth, fine flour. The Pulpit Commentary draws the principle: "There is thus typically set forth the freedom with which acceptance through the great propitiation is offered to all without respect of persons," and yet — crucially — "the non-bloody substitute... does not invalidate the general rule that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." The bird-rite is described in the unit's rarest verb, mālaq (H4454), found in only two verses; Keil details the pinch "in the nape just below the head, though without entirely severing it." The flour offering is stripped of oil and frankincense, and Keil explains why: these are "symbols of the Spirit and praise of God," which "a man who had fallen from grace through sin" may not bring. The poorest hand grasps a fistful (qāmats, H7061, 5:12) for a memorial, and the section closes, twice over (5:10, 13), on the divine-only verb wə·nis·laḥ — "and it shall be forgiven him." The lamb and the fistful of flour end in the same word.
Read under Scripture alone, Leviticus 5:1–13 is a doctrine of grace hidden in a price list. Three movements descend: the heavy guilt of the silent witness who must "bear his iniquity" (5:1); the demand that the mouth confess before the blood is shed (5:5); and a sacrifice that keeps falling in cost — lamb, two birds, a fistful of flour — without ever falling in effect. The same verb of pardon, sālaḥ (used in the Hebrew Bible of God alone), seals the rich man's lamb (implied) and the destitute man's flour (5:10, 13). The law will not let poverty bar the door to forgiveness, yet it will not let anyone forget what forgiveness costs: oil and frankincense — the marks of fellowship and joy — are forbidden on the sinner's flour, because this is contrition, not celebration. The machine layer's tentative reading: the descending scale is not a discount on holiness but a refusal to let holiness be hoarded by the wealthy. God grades the gift to the giver's hand and leaves the verdict — "it shall be forgiven him" — ungraded. This reading is offered to be tested against the text, not above it.
The sacrifice descends from a lamb to a fistful of flour, but the word "forgiven" never gets cheaper.
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The instruction to "pinch off" the bird's head in 5:8 uses mālaq (H4454) — a verb so rare it appears in only two verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. Its single companion is Leviticus 1:15, the burnt offering of a turtledove or pigeon. The Verifier returns this pair as "verbal — confirmed," the rare lexeme carrying the weight: the poor man's sin offering borrows its very gesture from the law of the burnt offering, so that the cheapest atonement is performed with the priest's hand moving exactly as it does for the whole burnt sacrifice. Keil describes the act identically in both places.
Leviticus 1:15
basis: rare shared lexeme H4454 mâlaq (only 2 verses Bible-wide), with H7126 qârab, H7218 rôʼsh, H3548 kôhên; Verifier-confirmed Hebrew↔Hebrew
The rash oath of 5:4 turns on bāṭāʼ (H981), "to babble / speak rashly," a verb confined to three verses. The Verifier binds 5:4 to Psalm 106:33 by this lexeme together with sāphāh ("lips"). There the Psalmist's confession is striking: at the waters of Meribah the people provoked Moses' spirit "so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips." The same rare verb that here defines the sin of the careless oath is used of Moses himself — the lawgiver caught in the very fault his law treats. Cambridge notes the lexical rarity and the sound-echo with the "vain repetitions" of Matthew 6:7.
Psalm 106:33
basis: rare shared lexeme H981 bâṭâʼ (only 3 verses Bible-wide) with H8193 sâphâh (lips); Verifier-confirmed Hebrew↔Hebrew
When the poorest offerer brings flour (5:12), the priest "grasps a fistful" (qāmats, H7061 — only 3 verses) of it as an ’azkārâh, a "memorial portion" (H234 — only 7 verses). The Verifier ties this verse to Numbers 5:26, the jealousy ordeal, by both rare words plus qāṭar (burn) — "verbal — confirmed." The same priestly grasp and the same memorial burning that handle the suspected wife's grain offering handle the destitute sinner's flour: the gesture of remembrance Godward is one across the priestly law.
Numbers 5:26
basis: rare shared lexemes H7061 qâmats (3 vv) + H234 ʼazkârâh (7 vv) with H6999 qâṭar, H4196 mizbêach; Verifier-confirmed Hebrew↔Hebrew
The flour offering of 5:11 is made of the very stuff of the grain offering — sōleth (fine flour), with the elements shemen (oil) and lᵉbônâh (frankincense) named only to be forbidden. The Verifier binds 5:11 to Leviticus 2:2, the foundational grain offering, by these three lexemes (the rare lᵉbônâh, 21 verses, anchoring the link). The connection is verbal, but its force is by contrast: what makes a minchah a joyful gift is precisely what the sinner may not add. Ellicott: "otherwise its distinguishing features as such would be destroyed."
Leviticus 2:2
basis: shared lexemes H5560 çôleth, H8081 shemen, and rare H3828 lᵉbôwnâh (21 vv); Verifier-confirmed Hebrew↔Hebrew (the link is by contrast — oil/incense named to be excluded)
The poverty concession of 5:7 ("two turtledoves or two young pigeons") is bound by the Verifier to Leviticus 12:8 through the rare pairing of tôwr (turtledove, 14 verses) and yônâh (dove), plus seh (lamb) and day (enough). Leviticus 12:8 is the law of the woman who "cannot afford a lamb" after childbirth — and it is precisely that offering, two birds, which Mary brought for the infant Christ (Luke 2:24). The same Hebrew vocabulary of the poor man's atonement frames the family that presented the Redeemer in the Temple.
Leviticus 12:8
basis: shared lexemes H8449 tôwr (14 vv), H3123 yôwnâh, H7716 seh, H1767 day; Verifier-confirmed Hebrew↔Hebrew
The silent-witness law of 5:1 shares with Proverbs 29:24 the rare noun ’ālāh (oath of cursing, 32 verses) and, more pointedly, the verb nāgad (H5046, "to tell / declare") — the very word negated in 5:1. The Verifier returns the pair as structural/thematic. Ellicott reads Proverbs 29:24 as a direct comment on this statute: the man who "heareth the adjuration and uttereth nothing" makes himself "partner with a thief." Shared motif and shared keyword, but Proverbs makes no claim to cite Leviticus, so the link is held below "verbal."
Proverbs 29:24
basis: shared lexemes H423 ʼâlâh (32 vv, oath of cursing) and H5046 nâgad (to tell, the negated verb of 5:1); Verifier-confirmed Hebrew↔Hebrew, no quotation claimed
The bird-rite of 5:9 drains the remaining blood "at the base of the altar" — yᵉsôwd (H3247, 19 verses) — sharing with Leviticus 4:7 the same base, the same dām (blood), the same altar. The Verifier rates this structural/thematic: the costly bull-offering of ch. 4 and the cheap bird-offering of ch. 5 pour out their lifeblood at one and the same foundation. The economy of the victim changes; the place where blood meets the altar does not.
Leviticus 4:7
basis: shared lexemes H3247 yᵉsôwd (base, 19 vv), H1818 dâm (blood), H4196 mizbêach (altar); Verifier-confirmed Hebrew↔Hebrew, shared ritual pattern
The offering of 5:6 is the offerer's ’āšām (H817, guilt / guilt-offering), a word found in 41 verses. Gill draws the line explicitly: "this was typical of the sacrifice of Christ, whose soul was made an offering for sin, 'Asham' a trespass offering, Isaiah 53:10 where the same word is used as here." The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme ’āšām between 5:6 and Isaiah 53:10 — one rare word, the only verbal bridge in this unit from the law of the guilt offering to the Servant who is made guilt for many. Tiered structural rather than "verbal": one shared term, with no quotation claim either direction.
Isaiah 53:10
basis: single shared lexeme H817 ʼâshâm (guilt-offering, 41 vv), as Gill notes; Verifier-confirmed Hebrew↔Hebrew, one term, no quotation
Five of the human voices on 5:1 (Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Cambridge, JFB) cite Matthew 26:63 — the High Priest's "I adjure thee by the living God" to the silent Christ — as the New-Testament instance of the very adjuration this law governs. The connection is real in substance: it is the same judicial self-curse, the same duty to answer. But it is cross-Testament — a Greek Gospel verse cannot share a Hebrew Strong's number with Leviticus — so the Verifier returns "no shared original-language lexeme," and the link is flagged. The irony the voices feel: where this law condemns the witness who stays silent, the sinless One answered the adjuration and was condemned by it.
Matthew 26:63
basis: Greek↔Hebrew: no shared original-language lexeme possible; connection is thematic/Septuagintal (same judicial adjuration), asserted by Ellicott/Benson/Barnes/Cambridge/JFB but not verbal
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The pivot word of the unit, ’āšām (5:6, 7), is the same noun Isaiah uses when the LORD makes the Servant's "soul an offering for sin" (Isaiah 53:10). Gill presses it: the offering here "was typical of the sacrifice of Christ, whose soul was made an offering for sin, 'Asham'... where the same word is used as here." The law has the soul "bear his iniquity" (5:1, nāśā ‘āwōn) and the priest "cover" it (kāphar); Isaiah's Servant unites both — He bears the iniquity the sinner could only carry, and becomes the guilt-offering that covers it. The reading rests on the one verbal bridge the Verifier confirms and on Gill's explicit identification — widely held in the Christian exegetical tradition.
Leviticus 5:6 · Isaiah 53:10 · Leviticus 5:1
The descending scale of mercy — lamb, two birds, a fistful of flour — reaches its tenderest point in the two turtledoves of 5:7, the offering of those whose "hand cannot reach" a lamb. The Verifier ties that very vocabulary to Leviticus 12:8, and it was Leviticus 12:8 that Mary fulfilled when she brought "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons" for the infant Christ (Luke 2:24). The mother of the Lamb of God brought the poor woman's birds; the Redeemer who would need no sin offering was presented under the law's gentlest concession to poverty. The Pulpit Commentary reads the whole scale as foreshadowing "the freedom with which acceptance through the great propitiation is offered to all without respect of persons" — yet "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin" (Hebrews 9:22). This Christ-reading is interpretive synthesis, building on the verbal Lev 5:7 ↔ Lev 12:8 link and the Gospel's citation of that law.
Leviticus 5:7 · Leviticus 12:8 · Leviticus 5:11
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
On ’āšām: guilt, or guilt-offering? The chapter's central difficulty is the word ’āšām (H817), rendered "guilt offering" in 5:6 and "restitution" in 5:7, yet attached to an offering the same verses call a sin offering (ḥaṭṭāʼâh). The voices divide: Barnes and Keil read it as abstract "guilt" (culpa, reatus), not the technical trespass-offering of 5:14ff; Cambridge suggests it may here mean a "guilt-fine." The machine layer follows the under-claiming course and renders it "his guilt" where the syntax allows, flagging the ambiguity rather than resolving it. Do not read the "trespass offering" of the AV as a settled distinct sacrifice in vv.1–13.
On the LXX omissions. The Septuagint omits the closing clause of 5:2 ("he also shall be unclean and guilty") and the first clause of 5:5 ("when he shall be guilty in one of these things"). Ellicott and Cambridge note both, the latter attributing the 5:5 omission to scribal confusion with the identical phrase ending 5:4. The English follows the Masoretic Text; these are recorded as textual facts, not adopted readings.
On the cross-Testament links (Matthew 26:63, Hebrews 9:22, Luke 2:24). The voices repeatedly connect this unit to the New Testament — the adjuration of Christ, the rule that blood is required for remission, the birds Mary offered. These ties are conceptual and Septuagintal, not verbal: a Greek NT verse cannot share a Hebrew Strong's number with a Hebrew verse, so the Verifier correctly returns "no shared original-language lexeme" (flagged) for such pairs. The Hebrew↔Hebrew threads above (mālaq, bāṭāʼ, qāmats/’azkārâh, tôwr/yônâh, ’āšām) carry computed bases and are tiered accordingly.
On the rendering of 5:8. Whether mim·mūl ‘ā·rə·pōw means "at the front of" (BSB) or "opposite the nape / back of" the neck is genuinely contested; ‘ōreph is properly the back of the neck, and Keil locates the pinch "in the nape just below the head." The literal rendering above follows the nape reading; the divergence note records the dispute.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)