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When any of you sin in that you have heard a public adjuration to testify and—though able to testify as one who has seen or learned of the matter—do not speak up, you are subject to punishment. ²Or when any of you touch any unclean thing—whether the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean livestock or the carcass of an unclean swarming thing—and are unaware of it, you have become unclean, and are guilty. ³Or when you touch human uncleanness—any uncleanness by which one can become unclean—and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall be guilty. ⁴Or when any of you utter aloud a rash oath for a bad or a good purpose, whatever people utter in an oath, and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall in any of these be guilty. ⁵When you realize your guilt in any of these, you shall confess the sin that you have committed. ⁶And you shall bring to the L ord, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, a female from the flock, a sheep or a goat, as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for your sin.

⁷ But if you cannot afford a sheep, you shall bring to the L ord, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸You shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering, wringing its head at the nape without severing it. ⁹He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering. ¹⁰And the second he shall offer for a burnt offering according to the regulation. Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for the sin that you have committed, and you shall be forgiven.

¹¹ But if you cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, you shall bring as your offering for the sin that you have committed one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a sin offering; you shall not put oil on it or lay frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹²You shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall scoop up a handful of it as its memorial portion, and turn this into smoke on the altar, with the offerings by fire to the L ord; it is a sin offering. ¹³Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for whichever of these sins you have committed, and you shall be forgiven. Like the grain offering, the rest shall be for the priest.

Offerings with Restitution

¹⁴ The L ord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁵When any of you commit a trespass and sin unintentionally in any of the holy things of the L ord, you shall bring, as your guilt offering to the L ord, a ram without blemish from the flock, convertible into silver by the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering. ¹⁶And you shall make restitution for the holy thing in which you were remiss, and shall add one-fifth to it and give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement on your behalf with the ram of the guilt offering, and you shall be forgiven.

¹⁷ If any of you sin without knowing it, doing any of the things that by the L ord’s commandments ought not to be done, you have incurred guilt, and are subject to punishment. ¹⁸You shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, or the equivalent, as a guilt offering; and the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for the error that you committed unintentionally, and you shall be forgiven. ¹⁹It is a guilt offering; you have incurred guilt before the L ord.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

6. And he shall bring his trespass-offering. He proceeds with what we have already been considering, as to the removal of guilt by sacrifice; but he begins to make a distinction between the poor and the rich, which distinction applies also to what has gone before; hence it appears that the order is not exactly observed by Moses, since the cases which he inserts seem to interrupt the thread of his discourse; yet the fact remains clear, that whosoever have fallen through error are unclean until they have offered an atonement. But what had been before omitted is here inserted, that the poor and needy are not to be pressed beyond the extent of their means; nay, the different grades of offering are appointed, so that he to whom it was not convenient to offer two turtle-doves, or pigeons, might be quit for a small measure of flour. Hence we infer that God’s only design was to shew the one true means of reconciliation to the people, that they might have recourse to the Mediator and His sacrifice; for the poor are here commanded to offer either two turtle-doves, or a small quantity of meal, which would propitiate God towards them, just as much as would the victim required of the rich. The citation, ²⁶⁸²⁶⁸     “Un poete payen a dit, ‘que celuy qui offrira un grain d’encens, ou un espi de ble en integritd de coeur, appaisera Dieu autant que s’il tuoit une centaine de bestes.’ Or, Il n’a parle qu’a demi, et m’esbahi comment les Chrestiens osent alleguer ceste sentence comme vraye;” a heathen poet has said, that he who shall offer a grain of incense, or an ear of corn in integrity of heart, will appease God as much as if he had killed a hundred beasts. Now he only spoke by halves; and I am astonished how Christians dare to allege this sentence, as if it were true. — Fr.
   The reference is probably to Persius, Sat 2, in finem —
   "Composttum jus, fasque animi, sanctosque recessus
Mentis, et incoctum generoso pectus honesto,
Hoc cedo ut admoveam templis, etfarre litabo."
   Horace has nearly the same idea, Od. 3:23, 17-20 —
   "Immunis aram si tetigit manus,
Non sumptuosa blandior hostia
Mollivit aversos Penates
Farre pio, et saliente mica." however, which our interpreters make from the poet is a lame one; viz., “Whoever shall have brought integrity of mind into the temples, makes a sacrifice of corn;” since this blind man did not see what was the object of sacrifices, and thus despised all kinds of propitiations, as if purity and innocency alone recommended men to God. We must remember, then, that the victims of themselves were of no importance, and yet that the ancient people were exercised in these ceremonies, to teach them that God can only be appeased by the payment of a ransom.

²⁶⁸ “Un poete payen a dit, ‘que celuy qui offrira un grain d’encens, ou un espi de ble en integritd de coeur, appaisera Dieu autant que s’il tuoit une centaine de bestes.’ Or, Il n’a parle qu’a demi, et m’esbahi comment les Chrestiens osent alleguer ceste sentence comme vraye;” a heathen poet has said, that he who shall offer a grain of incense, or an ear of corn in integrity of heart, will appease God as much as if he had killed a hundred beasts. Now he only spoke by halves; and I am astonished how Christians dare to allege this sentence, as if it were true. — Fr. The reference is probably to Persius, Sat 2, in finem — "Composttum jus, fasque animi, sanctosque recessus Mentis, et incoctum generoso pectus honesto, Hoc cedo ut admoveam templis, etfarre litabo." Horace has nearly the same idea, Od. 3:23, 17-20 — "Immunis aram si tetigit manus, Non sumptuosa blandior hostia Mollivit aversos Penates Farre pio, et saliente mica."