Leviticus · 19 verses
Leviticus 5
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
In Leviticus 5, a person may be guilty before noticing the offence, and the final verdict is wonderfully blunt: “he was certainly guilty before the LORD.”
Guilt noticed latevv. 1–13
The chapter begins with a catalogue of inadvertence: failing to testify, touching an unclean creature or human uncleanness, and rashly swearing an oath. In each case, ignorance postpones recognition rather than cancelling guilt; once the matter is realised, confession and an offering follow. The offering itself descends by means: a female lamb or goat, then two birds, and finally a tenth of an ephah of fine flour. At the poorest tier, the flour arrives without olive oil or frankincense—a sin offering stripped to its plainest form. The bird ritual, meanwhile, is conducted with exact and slightly startling economy: the head is twisted but not severed, some blood touches the side of the altar, and the remainder runs to its base. The priest makes atonement, and the person is forgiven; the leftover flour belongs to the priest.
The ram and the fifthvv. 14–19
Then the LORD speaks to Moses about a different sort of failure: unfaithfulness involving holy things, or violation of a commandment without knowing it. Here the offering is an unblemished ram of proper value, and any holy thing harmed must be repaid with an added fifth, given to the priest. The ram appears twice, once for the damaged holy thing and once for the sin committed in ignorance. The chapter closes by refusing to soften the account: ignorance may explain how the wrong occurred, but the person is still guilty and bears the punishment.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Lev 5:1“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.
Lev 5:2Or 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.
Lev 5:3Or 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.
Lev 5:4Or 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.
Lev 5:5If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed,
Lev 5:6and 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.
Lev 5:7If, 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.
Lev 5:8He 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;
Lev 5:9then 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.
Lev 5:10And 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.
Lev 5:11But 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.
Lev 5:12He 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.
Lev 5:13In 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.”
Lev 5:15“If someone acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s holy things, he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram from the flock, of proper value in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering.
Lev 5:16Regarding any holy thing he has harmed, he must make restitution by adding a fifth of its value to it and giving it to the priest, who will make atonement on his behalf with the ram as a guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.
Lev 5:17If someone sins and violates any of the LORD’s commandments even though he was unaware, he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.
Lev 5:18He is to bring to the priest an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock as a guilt offering. Then the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the wrong he has committed in ignorance, and he will be forgiven.
Lev 5:19It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD.”
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 223 passages were voted onto 18 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 5Proverbs 28:13He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- 1Leviticus 5:17If someone sins and violates any of the LORD’s commandments even though he was unaware, he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.
- 5Numbers 5:7and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution, add a fifth to its value, and give all this to the one he has wronged.
- 5Leviticus 26:40But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
- 10Leviticus 1:14–17If, instead, one’s offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, he is to present a turtledove or a young pigeon.
- 17Leviticus 4:27And if one of the common people sins unintentionally and does what is prohibited by any of the LORD’s commandments, he incurs guilt.
- 1Proverbs 29:24A partner to a thief hates his own soul; he receives the oath but does not testify.
- 5Leviticus 16:21Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.
- 10Leviticus 4:26He must burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the peace offerings; thus the priest will make atonement for that man’s sin, and he will be forgiven.
- 15Exodus 30:13Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
- 16Leviticus 22:14If anyone eats a sacred offering in error, he must add a fifth to its value and give the sacred offering to the priest.
- 17Leviticus 4:13Now if the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly so that they violate any of the LORD’s commandments and incur guilt by doing what is forbidden,
- 4Judges 11:31then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
- 4Ecclesiastes 5:2–6Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.
- 6Leviticus 4:28When he becomes aware of the sin he has committed, he must bring an unblemished female goat as his offering for that sin.
- 6Leviticus 4:32If, however, he brings a lamb as a sin offering, he must bring an unblemished female.
Onward