Leviticus 5:14-6:7 “The Guilt Offering and Biblical Restitution”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan KS, 17 Apr 2016

Translation

Restoration of Holy Things (5:14-16)	Restoration from Unknown Offenses (5:17-19)	Restoration of Other People’s Things (6:1-7)
5:14 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses to say,		6:1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses to say,
5:15 “In a case where a person commits treachery and has sinned in error against the holy things of Yahweh,	5:17 And if a person in any case sins and does one thing from any of the prohibitions of Yahweh (which should not be done) - and he did not know	6:2 “In a case where a person sins and commits treachery with Yahweh and is untrue with his kinsman
		· in a matter of storage · or of a hand[-delivered] deposit · or of a stolen item or he has otherwise extorted his kinsman, 6:3 · or he has found a lost item and is untrue about it and swears upon falsehood concerning one of any such things mankind might do to sin in regard to them,
	he is still guilty, and he will bear his iniquity.	6:4 then it shall be that he is a sinner and he shall be guilty.
5:16a and he shall restore that in which he sinned from the holy thing.		So he shall return what was stolen which he robbed or the extorted item which he extorted or the stored item which was stored by him or the lost item which he found, 6:5 or anything which he might have sworn over for falsehood, and he shall restore it in principle.
5:16b Then he shall add a fifth on to it and give it to the priest		Let him also add on top of that it’s fifth part, to the one to whom it belongs. He shall give it on the day of his guilt-offering.
5:15b he shall then bring his guilt-offering to Yahweh: a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement of silver shekels (in sanctuary shekels) for a guilt-offering	5:18 So he shall bring a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement for a guilt-offering to the priest	6:6 And this is his guilt-offering he should bring to Yahweh: a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement [to the priest ] for a guilt-offering,
, and it will be the priest who makes atonement over him with the ram of the guilt-offering.	and the priest will make atonement for him over his error which he erred when he himself did not know it,	6:7 and the priest will make atonement over him before the face of Yahweh,
Then it will be pardoned for him.	and it will be pardoned for him.	and it will be pardoned for him
	5:19 It is a guilt-offering. He has become truly guilty before the Lord.”	- up to each one of the things which he might do, by which guilt comes to [him].

Introduction

· Steven Schafer opens the introduction of his book, Restitution to Victims of Crime^{^[1]} with a bitter quote from Prins the Belgian at the Paris Prison Congress of 1895, “The guilty man, lodged, fed, clothed, warmed, lighted, entertained at the expense of the State in a model cell, issued from it with a sum of money lawfully earned, has paid his debt to society; he can set his victims at defiance, but the victim has his consolation: he can think that by taxes he pays to the Treasury, he has contributed towards the paternal care which guarded the criminal during his stay in prison.”

· How did our unjust modern system of putting robbers in prison at the expense of law-abiding taxpayers come to be? Why does our government punish larceny by criminal law and relegate restitution to civil law so that the criminal is automatically punished by the state but the victim is not automatically repaid; he has to go through all the work and expense of a lawsuit in hopes that he might get some of his money back?

· Schafer explained, “It was chiefly owing to the violent greed of feudal barons and medieval ecclesiastical powers that the rights of the injured party were gradually infringed upon, and finally, to a large extent, appropriated by these authorities who exacted a double vengeance... upon the offender, by forfeiting his property to themselves instead of to his victim, and then punishing him by the dungeon, the torture, the stake, or the gibbet. But the original victim of wrong was practically ignored... The theory developed at the end of the Middle Ages that crime is an offense exclusively against the state... If one looks at the legal systems of different countries, one seeks in vain a country where a victim of crime enjoys a certain expectation of full restitution for his injury.”

· R.J. Rushdoony also wrote about this issue in his magnum opus, The Institutes of Biblical Law, “Restitution as a theocratic principle involves three things: first, it involves restitution to the injured person. Second, since the law-order broken was God’s law-order... restitution had to be made to God by offerings of atonement... Third... the state must make restitution to the injured persons whenever... [it] fails to discover the offending party. The goal of godly society is restoration; at every point, it must be effected, with evil penalized, and the godly defended by restitution... The failure of a society to ground itself on restitution, or its departure from this principle, means a growing necessity for costly protection by means of insurance. Much insurance is... a form of self-restitution, in that the buyer pays for protection against irresponsible people who will not make restitution. The large insurance premiums paid by responsible persons and corporations are their self-protection against the failure of the law to require restitution...^{^[2]}”

· Leviticus, as a part of God’s law, has much to teach us about justice and fairness. This passage falls into three sections which have parallel wording and which all result in a sacrifice called the asham, the guilt-offering^{^[3]}.

o Whereas the burnt-offering pictures the appeasement of God’s wrath against sin by the death of a substitute,

o and whereas the sprinkled blood of the sin-offering pictured the purification of earthly things from the sin of man,

o the guilt offering pictured restitution or payment for the offense of sin.

· Let’s look at each of these three sections in turn.

1) Restoration of Holy Things (5:14-16)

5:14 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, 15 In the case where a person commits treachery and has sinned in error against the holy things of Yahweh, he shall then bring his guilt-offering to Yahweh: a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement of silver shekels (in sanctuary shekels) for a guilt-offering, 16 and he shall make peace for that in which he sinned from the holy thing. So he shall add a fifth on to it and give it to the priest, and it will be the priest who makes atonement over him with the ram of the guilt-offering. Then it will be pardoned for him.

· So what was a sin against a holy thing?

o Matthew Henry commented, “suppose he had ignorantly made use of the tithes, or first-fruits, or first-born of his cattle, or ... had eaten any of those parts of the sacrifices which were appropriated to the priests; this was a trespass.”

o Leviticus 22 uses this Hebrew word for “holy things” specifically to describe the offerings that only the priests could eat,

o and Leviticus 27 defines holy things as anything dedicated by men to God, whether it be animals, houses, land, or tithes.

o Later on in Numbers 6:6ff, a Nazirite who had dedicated his life to God in a special way had to make one of these guilt offerings if he violated his vow and did not give God the full length of time of special purification that he has promised.

· This sort of thing should be compensated for. The passage before us speaks of making an “assessment” or “valuation” or “arrangement” concerning whatever it was that individuals have done to use what belonged rightfully to God. The details of this “valuation” are vague here, so different commentators have taken different positions:

o The word “your” is attached to the end of this word in Hebrew, perhaps indicating that it is the supplicant’s own evaluation of the worth of the holy thing that they misused (Lev. 5:15). The Medieval Jewish commentator Ibn Ezra wrote that this word “your valuation” simply means “the full worth plus the fines,” (and, he added, since the word “shekels” is plural it couldn’t be less than 2 shekels).

o Another possibility for interpreting this comes from Leviticus 27:9ff, where the same word for “valuation/arrangement” is used several times to describe temple transactions where money was given to the priests instead of an animal or to buy back an animal that had been offered to God. (cf. Num. 18:16) The New International Commentary on the O.T. takes this position (Wenham, p.107).

o But classic Christian commentators like Keil and Delitzsch and Matthew Henry wrote that it was an amount set by the priest as a sort of fine to be paid, estimating the value of the holy item that had been misappropriated, estimating the value of the animal that was being offered, and perhaps even estimating the supplicant’s ability to pay more (and there is some basis for this in Lev. 26:12).

· The Biblical principle of restitution of property is to restore the property (or principle) along with a 20% bonus. So if the misappropriated item was worth 5 dollars, you pay 6 dollars.

· I also find it interesting that God sets some boundaries on the currency to be used.

o It was to be in “silver shekels” – precious metal of actual value, not promissory notes, so that cheating on the value is discouraged,

o and it must be held to the standard of weights and measures provided by the temple staff so that a shekel would always be a certain weight and could therefore never experience inflation.

· Are there any things you have kept for yourself that really belonged to God, or ways you have cut corners on what you have offered to God? I encourage you make things right with God.

· The second section seems to be connected to the first section which deals with offenses against God’s holiness, but in this second case, since there is no restitution mentioned, it is thought to apply to sins where there is no physical damage to make amends for, only spiritual damage that harmed your relationship with God.

2) Restoration from Unknown Offenses (5:17-19)

5:17 And if a person in any case sins and does one thing from any of the prohibitions of Yahweh (which should not be done) – and he did not know, he is still guilty, and he will bear his iniquity. 18 So he shall bring a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement for a guilt-offering to the priest, and the priest will make atonement for him over his error which he erred when he himself did not know it, and it will be pardoned for him. 19 It is a guilt-offering. He has become truly guilty before the Lord.”

· v. 19 ends with the emphatic statement, literally, “He has become guilty to become guilty,” which is a Hebrew idiom for “He is very guilty,” truly guilty – no question about it^{^[4]}!

o Guilt attaches to you whether or not you are aware that you did anything to offend God, and it is just as real as the guilt you feel when you are aware of doing something horribly wrong and the blood rushes to your ears and you feel like everybody is staring at you and you just want to crawl into a hole. The guilt is just as real before God even when you don’t realize you did anything wrong and God is the only one who noticed that you did something wrong.

o The holiness and justice of God is a very intimidating thought. “[A] suspected trespass against sacred property [was] one of the most dreaded sins in antiquity.^{^[5]}” God can be mad at me without me even knowing it or knowing why!

· Is there anything that can be done about these vague anxieties we have from time to time (or maybe a lot of the time!) about our sin?

o Leviticus says YES! Make a guilt offering and God will pardon you!

o “But, I don’t have a ram, and there is no temple to sacrifice it in anyway!”

o Isaiah 53:10 tells us that Jesus was God’s asham – our guilt-offering: “The LORD interposed in Him the iniquity of us all... like the lamb is led to the slaughter... He was torn away from the land of the living, from the rebellion of my people, the stroke went towards Him... He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth. And His beating pleased the LORD. He caused grief if His soul would place itself for a guilt-offering... my righteous Servant will make righteous the many And their iniquities He Himself will bear.” (NAW)

o There is your guilt offering. He was the lamb slain some 2,000 years ago to satisfy God’s justice. And when you have those vague feelings of guilt and uncertainties about whether God is upset with you, you can ask God to forgive you and make you right with Him in the name of Jesus, and you will be pardoned again. Will you believe this? Will you practice it?

· The third category of guilt-offerings runs into chapter 6 in English Bibles, and it has to do with...

3) Restoration of Other People’s Things (6:1-7)

6:2 “In a case where a person sins and commits treachery with Yahweh and is untrue with his kinsman in a matter of storage or of a hand[-delivered] deposit or of a stolen item or he has otherwise extorted his kinsman, 3 or he has found a lost item and is untrue about it and swears upon falsehood concerning one of any such things mankind might do to sin in regard to them,

· Note the principle that a sin against a fellow human being is also an offense against God. God made that other person, and God decreed the rules of how you should relate rightly to that person. Thus a sacrifice must be made to God to be forgiven of your sin in addition to making the matter right with the other person.

o Example of disciplining a child for stealing a sibling’s candy and eating it. There was a spanking to teach the wrongness of it, there was a prayer to God for forgiveness in Jesus’ Name, and there was the restitution of buying another candy and giving that to little sis.

o For adults, it’s often bigger things, for instance, if you were driving and ran a red light and crashed into someone else, you not only have a responsibility to restore the other person’s damaged car and their injured body, but you also need to ask God to forgive you for breaking a traffic law and endangering other people and their property.

· Three verbs are used: 1) He sins, 2) he commits treachery/unfaithfulness, and 3) He is untrue.

o The only use of this third verb kichaesh (כִחֵשׁ) previous to this in the Bible is Genesis 18:13-15 And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid... (NKJV). Have you ever justified yourself by saying something like, “Oh, I wasn’t stealing, I was just realizing an opportunity.” “I didn’t laugh, God, You’re being too harsh in condemning me!”

o Another example of this “being untrue” to the Lord is in Isaiah 58:12b-13 “...as for our iniquities, we know them: rebellion and being untrue with Jehovah, and turning back from following our God, speaking injury and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.” (NAW) Devaluing or destroying property is not just an economic issue, it is a spiritual issue and must be treated as such.

· There are five scenarios listed here in Leviticus 6:

Storage: This Hebrew noun is derived from paqad, and the only other place it appears in the O.T. is Gen. 41:36, describing the storehouses of grain that Joseph established in Egypt before the 7-year famine.

Has anyone deposited anything into your safekeeping? They are trusting you to keep their property safe.
Maybe it’s a soldier that went off on deployment, or a relative who left something at your house, or a financial trust someone has invested in your business.
Are you doing all you can to protect that other person’s property from losing value or being lost?

Deposit: This noun is derived from siym (“put/place”), together with the Hebrew word for “hand.” It may relate more to what you do as a business.

The KJV translates it a “fellowship” following the Septuagint, perhaps in terms of partial ownership in a business partnership or a “security,” as the NAS and ESV translate it.
I’ve known of people who were willing to take much greater investment risks with other people’s money than with their own money. That indicates a problem.

After that comes the noun for robbery. I think most of us know what that means and have a healthy understanding that it is a serious wrong.

Psalm 62:10 NKJV “Do not trust in oppression, Nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them.”
Isaiah 61:8 “I, Jehovah am a lover of justice, hating robbery with wrongdoing; I will give their payback in truth...” (NAW)
Ezekiel 22:29-31 NKJV “The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them... that I should not destroy... but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads...”

The fourth matter is that of ‘asheq, often translated “oppression” in the Psalms. Other translations of the word are “deception,” “cheating,” or “extortion.”

A specific case of ‘asheq is found in Leviticus 19:13 NKJV “You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.” Here a poor man has worked for you all day and you have the money to pay him, but you say, “I’ll pay you tomorrow.” The employer is in the position of power and has the ability to cheat the employee after the employee’s work is done, and there’s not a whole lot the employee can do at that point. (He can’t take his day’s labour back.) Furthermore, a day-wage-earner like that is probably living hand to mouth. He depends on getting his wages quickly. Failing to pay him on the day of his labor is a form of extortion. This is God’s law telling us what is fair.
Half of the prophetic books in the Bible mention “oppression” as one of the key sins for which God brought the judgment of exile upon the nation of Israel. See, for instance, Micah 2:2 NKJV “They covet fields and take them by violence, Also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.”
Are there any relationships where you have the power to cheat someone else who is vulnerable? How can you use your money and power to provide justice for them rather than taking advantage of them?

And finally, in verse 3, there’s Lost and found items.

About a year ago, I was called up for jury duty at the courthouse in Riley County. The case involved a guy who had found a cell phone, picked it up, and began carrying it with him and using it as though it were his own cell phone. “Finders keepers” was what he was thinking. The owner of the cell phone, however, was irate, because she was the one who wasn’t able to make phone calls anymore and who was being charged for his extravagant use of her phone.

There are two other passages which outline what is just regarding lost and found items:

Exodus 22:7-12 NKJV “If a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods. For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or for any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.”
Now, note that in Exodus 22, the reparation is double, whereas with Leviticus 6 it is just 120%. The difference is probably that, in Leviticus, the offending party is taking the initiative with the victim to make things right, whereas in Exodus, the victim has had to chase down the perpetrator and force him to pay damages. God’s law provided a financial incentive to thieves to take the initiative with restitution which, in turn, makes it easier on victims if they don’t have to chase down the criminal, and lightens the load of judges as well with fewer cases in the small claims court. God’s law is marvelous!
Here’s one more passage in Deuteronomy 22:1-3 NKJV “You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother's, which he has lost and you have found...”
Using something you found is a form of theft.

The commandment “Thou Shalt Not Steal” means that God believes in protecting private property. The things that you worked for to earn are not the property of the community but are truly yours to do with as you see fit. No one should feel free to steal it and do with it as they see fit because it’s not theirs.

Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t some things which can be communally owned. In my house, I have a box of toys which are no longer the property of any of my children in particular. They are especially for guests, and if I see my children fighting over who gets to play with them, I will force them to share it because it is communally owned.
But if it is a toy I gave one child for her birthday, or a toy which she bought with her own money, and I see multiple kids arguing over who gets to play with it, now we’re dealing with private property. I tell the other kids they have no right to force her to let them play with that toy because it’s not theirs, it’s hers, and she can do what she wants with it – even if she left it on the floor for anybody to pick up. If she doesn’t want anybody to play with it, that’s her prerogative.
Adults do the same sorts of things, just with more expensive items, and adults need to be reminded of the same principles of God’s justice.

Furthermore, Leviticus warns us not to cover up the sin of stealing by adding the sin of lying on top of it. “Swear upon falsehood” – claiming that whatever we found or stole or cheated or promised to take care of actually belongs to us to do with as we please.

6:4 then it shall be that he is a sinner and he shall be guilty. So he shall return what was stolen which he robbed or the extorted item which he extorted or the stored item which was stored by him or the lost item which he found, 5 or anything which he might have sworn over for falsehood, and he shall restore it in principle. Let him also add on top of that its fifth part, to the one to whom it belongs. He shall give it on the day of his guilt-offering.

· God’s law is fair compared to other systems of law:

o Sharia’ law requires that the hand of a thief be cut off, which may be a deterrent to stealing, but provides no remedy to the person stolen from.

o Pagan European tribal laws punished theft with death, a disproportionately-harsh penalty which still did not remedy the offense.

o God’s law, however, makes restoration (rather than repression) the primary object (while still discouraging theft by removing any profit from stealing)^{^[6]}.

· Note that this restoration should happen in a timely way – “in the day of” his guilt offering (which is presented as soon as he realizes his offense before God).

· Are there any people you have cheated or defrauded in some way? Have you damaged something that belonged to someone else? Have you fixed or replaced whatever it is? If you haven’t fully restored things, be sure to go over and above its value and give back more than it was worth.

6:6 And this is his guilt-offering he should bring to Yahweh: a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement [to the priest] for a guilt-offering, 7 and the priest will make atonement over him before the face of Yahweh, and it will be pardoned for him - up to each one of the things which he might do, by which guilt comes to [him].

Conclusion

· Once again the good news is what brings closure to the paragraph. God assures His people that each and every one of these possible sins is pardonable through God’s way of forgiveness. There is no sin God cannot forgive – except the sin of refusing to seek forgiveness from Him. If you come to Him seeking forgiveness in Jesus’ name, He will cleanse you from all your unrighteousness.

· Remember, He has provided in Jesus a guilt-offering for you, according to Isaiah 53:10. Jesus is the Righteous One who can “make you righteous and bear your trespasses.^{^[7]}”

· And then, just as God has reached out to you to restore you, you can turn around and bring restoration to those you have cheated or taken advantage of, so that they may know the goodness of God’s righteousness themselves.

Comparative Texts & Versions of Leviticus 5

When a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original Hebrew, I use ~~strikeout~~. And when a version omits a word which is in the Hebrew text, I insert an X. (Sometimes I will place the X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I have also tried to use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word.

LXX	KJV	DRB (Vulgate)	ESV	NAW	HWSG
14 Καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων	14 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,	14 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:	14 X The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,	5:14 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying,	14 וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
15 Ψυχὴ ἐὰν λάθῃ αὐτὸν λήθη καὶ ἁμάρτῃ ἀκουσίως ἀπὸ τῶν ἁγίων κυρίου, καὶ οἴσει τῆς πλημμελείας αὐτοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ κριὸν ἄμωμον ἐκ τῶν προβάτων τιμῆς ἀργυρίου σίκλων, τῷ σίκλῳ τῶν ἁγίων, περὶ οὗ ἐπλημμέλησεν.	15 If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:	15 If any one shall sin through mistake, transgressing [the ceremonies] in those things that are ~~sacrificed~~ to the Lord, he shall offer X X for his offence a ram without blemish out of the flocks, ~~that may be bought for two~~ sicles, [according] to the weight of the sanctuary. X X	15 "If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in [any] of the holy things of the LORD, he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, [according] to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering.	5:15 “In a case where a person commits treachery and has sinned in error against the holy things of Yahweh, he shall then bring his guilt-offering to Yahweh: a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement of silver shekels (in sanctuary shekels) for a guilt-offering ^{^[i]},	15 נֶפֶשׁ כִּי-תִמְעֹל^QI3fs מַעַל וְחָטְאָה^QP3fs בִּשְׁגָגָה מִקָּדְשֵׁי יְהוָה וְהֵבִיא^HiP3ms אֶת-אֲשָׁמוֹ לַיהוָה אַיִל תָּמִים מִן-הַצֹּאן בְּעֶרְכְּךָ כֶּסֶף-שְׁקָלִים בְּשֶׁקֶל-הַקֹּדֶשׁ לְאָשָׁם:
16 καὶ ὃ ἥμαρτεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἁγίων, ἀποτείσαι αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ ἐπίπεμπτον προσθήσει ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸ καὶ δώσει αὐτὸ τῷ ἱερεῖ· καὶ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐξιλάσεται περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ κριῷ τῆς πλημμελείας, καὶ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ.	16 And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.	16 And he shall make good the damage itself which he hath done X X, and shall add the fifth part besides, delivering it to the priest, X ~~who~~ X shall ~~pray~~ for him, offering the ram: and it shall be forgiven him.	16 He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.	5:16 and he shall restore that in which he sinned from the holy thing. So he shall add a fifth on to it and give it to the priest, and it will be the priest who makes atonement over him with the ram of the guilt-offering. Then it will be pardoned for him.	16 וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר חָטָא מִן-הַקֹּדֶשׁ יְשַׁלֵּם^PI3ms וְאֶת-חֲמִישִׁתוֹ יוֹסֵף^HiI3ms עָלָיו וְנָתַן^QP3ms אֹתוֹ לַכֹּהֵן וְהַכֹּהֵן יְכַפֵּר^PI3ms עָלָיו בְּאֵיל הָאָשָׁם וְנִסְלַח^NP3ms לוֹ: פ
17 Καὶ ἡ ψυχή, ἣ ἂν ἁμάρτῃ καὶ ποιήσῃ μίαν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν κυρίου, ὧν οὐ δεῖ ποιεῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνω καὶ πλημμελήσῃ καὶ λάβῃ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν,	17 And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.	17 If any one sin through ignorance, and do one of those things which by the law of the Lord are forbidden, and being guilty of sin, understand his iniquity:	17 "If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity.	5:17 And if a person in any case sins and does one thing from any of the prohibitions of Yahweh (which should not be done) - and he did not know, he is still guilty, and he will bear his iniquity.	17 וְאִם-נֶפֶשׁ כִּי תֶחֱטָא^QI3fs וְעָשְׂתָה ^QP3fs אַחַת מִכָּל-מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא תֵעָשֶׂינָה^NI3fp וְלֹא-יָדַע וְאָשֵׁם^QP וְנָשָׂא עֲוֹנוֹ:
18 καὶ οἴσει κριὸν ἄμωμον ἐκ τῶν προβάτων τιμῆς [ἀργυρίου] X εἰς πλημμέλειαν πρὸς τὸν ἱερέα· καὶ ἐξιλάσεται περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἱερεὺς περὶ τῆς ἀγνοίας αὐτοῦ, ἧς ἠγνόησεν καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ᾔδει, καὶ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ·	18 And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.	18 He shall offer of the flocks a ram without blemish to the priest, according to ~~the~~ measure [and estimation of the sin]. And the priest shall pray for him, because he did it ignorantly: And it shall be forgiven him,	18 He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish out of the flock, ~~or its~~ equivalent for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for the mistake that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven.	5:18 So he shall bring a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement^{^[ii]} for a guilt-offering to the priest, and the priest will make atonement for him over his error which he erred when he himself did not know it, and it will be pardoned for him.	18 וְהֵבִיא^HiP3ms אַיִל תָּמִים מִן-הַצֹּאן בְּעֶרְכְּךָ לְאָשָׁם אֶל-הַכֹּהֵן וְכִפֶּר^PP3ms עָלָיו הַכֹּהֵן עַל שִׁגְגָתוֹ אֲשֶׁר-שָׁגָג וְהוּא לֹא-יָדַע וְנִסְלַח^NP3ms לוֹ:
19 X X ἐπλημμέλησεν γὰρ πλημμέλησιν ἔναντι κυρίου.	19 It is a trespass offering: he hath certainly trespassed against the LORD.	19 X X ~~Because by mistake~~ he trespassed against the Lord.	19 It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the LORD."	5:19 It is a guilt-offering. He has become truly guilty before the Lord.”	19 אָשָׁם^QN הוּא אָשֹׁם^QP3ms אָשַׁם לַיהוָה: פ
5:20 Καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων	6:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,	1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:	1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,	6:1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses to say,	5:20וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
5:21 Ψυχὴ ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ καὶ παριδὼν παρίδῃ [τὰς ἐντολὰς] κυρίου καὶ ψεύσηται τὰ πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἐν παραθήκῃ ἢ περὶ κοινωνίας ἢ περὶ ἁρπαγῆς ἢ ἠδίκησέν τι τὸν πλησίον	6:2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered [him to keep], or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath ~~deceived~~ his neighbour;	2 Whosoever shall sin, and despising the Lord, shall deny to his neighbour X the thing delivered to [his] keeping, X which was committed to [his] trust; or shall by force extort any thing, or commit oppression; X X	2 "If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor	6:2 “In a case where a person sins and commits treachery with Yahweh and is untrue with his kinsman^{^[iii]} in a matter of storage^{^[iv]} or of a hand[-delivered] deposit or of a stolen item or he has otherwise extorted his kinsman,	5:21 נֶפֶשׁ כִּי תֶחֱטָא וּמָעֲלָה מַעַל בַּיהוָה וְכִחֵשׁ בַּעֲמִיתוֹ בְּפִקָּדוֹן אוֹ-בִתְשׂוּמֶת יָד אוֹ בְגָזֵל אוֹ עָשַׁק אֶת-עֲמִיתוֹ:
5:22 ἢ εὗρεν ἀπώλειαν καὶ ψεύσηται περὶ αὐτῆς καὶ ὀμόσῃ ἀδίκως περὶ ἑνὸς ἀπὸ πάντων, ὧν ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὥστε ἁμαρτεῖν ἐν τούτοις,	6:3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:	3 Or shall find a thing lost, and denying it, shall also swear falsely, or shall do any [other] of the many things, wherein men are wont to sin:	3 or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely--in any of all the things that ~~people~~ do ~~and~~ sin thereby--	6:3 or he has found a lost item^{^[v]} and is untrue about it and swears^{^[vi]} upon falsehood concerning one of any such things mankind might do to sin in regard to them,	5:22 אוֹ-מָצָא אֲבֵדָה וְכִחֶשׁ בָּהּ וְנִשְׁבַּע עַל-שָׁקֶר עַל-אַחַת מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר-יַעֲשֶׂה הָאָדָם לַחֲטֹא בָהֵנָּה:
5:23 καὶ ἔσται ἡνίκα ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ καὶ πλημμελήσῃ, καὶ ἀποδῷ τὸ ἅρπαγμα, ὃ ἥρπασεν, ἢ τὸ ἀδίκημα, ὃ ἠδίκησεν, ἢ τὴν παραθήκην, ἥτις παρετέθη αὐτῷ, ἢ τὴν ἀπώλειαν, ἣν εὗρεν,	6:4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the X thing which he hath ~~deceitfully~~ gotten, or that X which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,	4 Being convicted of the offence, he shall restore XXXXXXXX?	4 if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what X he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found	6:4 then it shall be that he is a sinner and he shall be guilty. So he shall return what was stolen which he robbed or the extorted item which he extorted or the stored item which was stored by him or the lost item which he found,	5:23 וְהָיָה כִּי-יֶחֱטָא וְאָשֵׁם וְהֵשִׁיב אֶת-הַגְּזֵלָה^{^[vii]} אֲשֶׁר גָּזָל אוֹ אֶת-הָעֹשֶׁק אֲשֶׁר עָשָׁק אוֹ אֶת-הַפִּקָּדוֹן אֲשֶׁר הָפְקַד אִתּוֹ אוֹ אֶת-הָאֲבֵדָה אֲשֶׁר מָצָא:
5:24 X ἀπὸ παντὸς πράγματος, οὗ ὤμοσεν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀδίκως, καὶ ἀποτείσει αὐτὸ τὸ κεφάλαιον καὶ τὸ πέμπτον προσθήσει ἐπ᾿ αὐτό· τίνος ἐστίν, αὐτῷ ἀποδώσει ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἐλεγχθῇ.	6:5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.	5 X All that he ~~would~~ have ~~gotten~~ by fraud X X, in the principal, and the fifth part besides, to the [owner], whom he XXXXXX wronged.	5 or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, [and] give it to him to whom it belongs on the day [he realizes] X his guilt.	6:5 or anything which he might have sworn over for falsehood, and he shall restore^{^[viii]} it in principle. Let him also add on top of that its fifth part, to the one to whom it belongs. He shall give it on the day of his guilt-offering.	5:24 אוֹ מִכֹּל ^{^[ix]} אֲשֶׁר-יִשָּׁבַע עָלָיו לַשֶּׁקֶר וְשִׁלַּם אֹתוֹ בְּרֹאשׁוֹ וַחֲמִשִׁתָיו יֹסֵף עָלָיו לַאֲשֶׁר הוּא לוֹ יִתְּנֶנּוּ בְּיוֹם אַשְׁמָתוֹ:
5:25 καὶ τῆς πλημμελείας αὐτοῦ οἴσει τῷ κυρίῳ κριὸν ἀπὸ τῶν προβάτων ἄμωμον τιμῆς εἰς ὃ ἐπλημμέλησεν αὐτῷ. X X	6:6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest:	6 Moreover for his sin he shall offer a ram without blemish out of the flock: and shall give it to the priest, according to the estimation and measure of the offence.	6 And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent for a guilt offering.	6:6 And this is his guilt-offering he should bring to Yahweh: a perfect ram from the flock with your arrangement [to the priest^{^[x]}] for a guilt-offering,	5:25 וְאֶת-אֲשָׁמוֹ יָבִיא לַיהוָה אַיִל תָּמִים מִן-הַצֹּאן בְּעֶרְכְּךָ לְאָשָׁם אֶל-הַכֹּהֵן:
5:26 καὶ ἐξιλάσεται περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἔναντι κυρίου, καὶ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ περὶ ἑνὸς ἀπὸ πάντων, ὧν ἐποίησεν ~~καὶ~~ ἐπλημμέλησεν αὐτῷ.	6:7 And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.	7 And he X shall ~~pray~~ for him before the Lord: and he shall have forgiveness X for every thing XXXX in doing of which he hath ~~sinned~~.	7 And the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he shall be forgiven X for any of X the things that one may do and thereby become guilty."	6:7 and the priest will make atonement over him before the face of Yahweh, and it will be pardoned for him - up to each one of the things which he might do, by which guilt comes to [him].^{^[xi]}	5:26 וְכִפֶּר עָלָיו הַכֹּהֵן לִפְנֵי יְהוָה וְנִסְלַח לוֹ עַל-אַחַת מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר-יַעֲשֶׂה לְאַשְׁמָה בָהּ: פ

^{^[3]} K&D list the following instances of the guilt offering outside of Lev. 5 & 6: Lev. 14:12sq, 19:20-22, Num. 5:5-8, 6:12.

^{^[4]} Well, actually Wenham raises a question about it, suggesting that it should be interpreted, “He has certainly made restitution,” as a parallel to the statement in the previous and following section of the guilt-offerings which state at the end that pardon will be made. However, it is a totally different verb and a different grammar structure from those other two statements, and it would be inconsistent with the other occurrences of the same verb in Leviticus 4:13,22,27; 5:2,3,4,5,17, etc. where it is translated “He shall be guilty.”

^{^[5]} Wenham, summarizing Milgrom’s Cult and Conscience, pp. 76ff.

^{^[7]} “The trespasses here mentioned are trespasses still against the law of Christ, which insists as much upon justice and truth as ever the law... of Moses did; and though now we may have them pardoned without a trespass-offering, yet not without true repentance, restitution, reformation, and a humble faith in the righteousness of Christ...” ~Matthew Henry