Leviticus 5:4-10

5:4 or when a person swears an oath, speaking thoughtlessly ¹  with his lips, whether to do evil or to do good, with regard to anything which the individual might speak thoughtlessly in an oath, even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty with regard to one of these oaths ²  – 5:5 when an individual becomes guilty with regard to one of these things ³  he must confess how he has sinned, ⁴  5:6 and he must bring his penalty for guilt ⁵  to the Lord for his sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, whether a female sheep or a female goat, for a sin offering. So the priest will make atonement ⁶  on his behalf for ⁷  his sin.

5:7 “‘If he cannot afford an animal from the flock, ⁸  he must bring his penalty for guilt for his sin that he has committed, ⁹  two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ¹⁰  to the Lord, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. 5:8 He must bring them to the priest and present first the one that is for a sin offering. The priest ¹¹  must pinch ¹²  its head at the nape of its neck, but must not sever the head from the body. ¹³  5:9 Then he must sprinkle ¹⁴  some of the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar, and the remainder of the blood ¹⁵  must be squeezed out at the base of the altar – it is a sin offering. 5:10 The second bird ¹⁶  he must make a burnt offering according to the standard regulation. ¹⁷  So the priest will make atonement ¹⁸  on behalf of this person for ¹⁹  his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven. ²⁰ 

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¹ tn Heb “to speak thoughtlessly”; cf. NAB “rashly utters an oath.”

² tn Heb “and is guilty to one from these,” probably referring here to any of “these” things about which one might swear a thoughtless oath (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 45), with the word “oath” supplied in the translation for clarity. Another possibility is that “to one from these” is a dittography from v. 5 (cf. the note on v. 5a), and that v. 4 ends with “and is guilty” like vv. 2 and 3 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:300).

³ tn Heb “and it shall happen when he becomes guilty to one from these,” referring to any of “these” possible transgressions in Lev 5:1-4. Tg. Onq., the original Greek translation, and the Latin Vulgate omit this clause, possibly due to homoioteleuton because of the repetition of “to one from these” from the end of v. 4 in v. 5a (cf. the note on v. 4b).

sn What all the transgressions in Lev 5:1-4 have in common is that the time is past for handling the original situation properly (i.e., testifying in court, following purity regulations, or fulfilling an oath), so now the person has become guilty and needs to follow corrective sacrificial procedures.

⁴ tn Heb “which he sinned on it”; cf. ASV “confess that wherein he hath sinned”; NCV “must tell how he sinned.”

⁵ tn In this context the word for “guilt” (אָשָׁם, ’asham) refers to the “penalty” for incurring guilt, the so-called consequential אָשָׁם (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:303; cf. the note on Lev 5:1).

⁶ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

⁷ tn See the note on 4:26 regarding the use of מִן (min).

⁸ tn Heb “and if his hand does not reach enough of a flock animal” (see the note on v. 11 below). The term translated “animal from the flock” (שֶׂה, seh) is often translated “lamb” (e.g., KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV) or “sheep” (e.g., NRSV, TEV, NLT), but it clearly includes either a sheep or a goat here (cf. v. 6), referring to the smaller pasture animals as opposed to the larger ones (i.e., cattle; cf. 4:3). Some English versions use the more generic “animal” (e.g., NAB, CEV).

⁹ tn Heb “and he shall bring his guilt which he sinned,” which is an abbreviated form of Lev 5:6, “and he shall bring his [penalty for] guilt to the Lord for his sin which he committed.” The words “for his sin” have been left out in v. 7, and “to the Lord” has been moved so that it follows the mention of the birds.

¹⁰ tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above.

¹¹ tn Heb “he.” The subject (“he”) refers to the priest here, not the offerer who presented the birds to the priest (cf. v. 8a).

¹² sn The action seems to involve both a twisting action, breaking the neck of the bird and severing its vertebrae, as well as pinching or nipping the skin, but in this case not severing the head from the main body (note the rest of this verse).

¹³ tn Heb “he shall not divide [it]” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:305).

¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter” (cf. Lev 4:6, 17). Contrast “splash” in Lev 1:5, etc. (זָרָק, zaraq).

¹⁵ tn Heb “the remainder in the blood.” The Heb. preposition “in” (בְּ, bÿ) is used here to mean “some among” a whole collection of something.

¹⁶ tn The word “bird” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ sn The term “[standard] regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishppat) here refers to the set of regulations for burnt offering birds in Lev 1:14-17.

¹⁸ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

¹⁹ tn See the note on 4:26 with regard to מִן, min.

²⁰ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).