Leviticus 6:2-5

6:2 “When a person sins and commits a trespass 1  against the Lord by deceiving his fellow citizen 2  in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen, 3  6:3 or has found something lost and denies it and swears falsely 4  concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin 5  – 6:4 when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, 6  then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, 7  or the lost thing that he had found, 6:5 or anything about which he swears falsely. 8  He must restore it in full 9  and add one fifth to it; he must give it to its owner when he is found guilty. 10 

1 tn Heb “trespasses a trespass” (verb and direct object from the same Hebrew root מַעַל, ma’al). See the note on 5:15.

2 tn Or “neighbor” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NASB “companion”; TEV “a fellow-Israelite.”

3 tn Heb “has extorted his neighbor”; ASV “oppressed”; NRSV “defrauded.”

4 tn Heb “and swears on falsehood”; cf. CEV “deny something while under oath.”

5 tn Heb “on one from all which the man shall do to sin in them.”

6 tn Heb “and it shall happen, when he sins and becomes guilty,” which is both resumptive of the previous (vv. 2-3) and the conclusion to the protasis (cf. “then” introducing the next clause as the apodosis). In this case, “becomes guilty” (cf. NASB, NIV) probably refers to his legal status as one who has been convicted of a crime in court; thus the translation “he is found guilty.” See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:559-61.

7 tn Heb “that had been held in trust with him.”

8 tn Heb “or from all which he swears on it to falsehood.”

9 tn Heb “in its head.” This refers “the full amount” in terms of the “principal,” the original item or amount obtained illegally (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:338; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 84).

10 tn Heb “to whom it is to him he shall give it in the day of his being guilty.” The present translation is based on the view that he has been found guilty through the legal process (see the note on v. 4 above; cf., e.g., TEV and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 33-34). Others translate the latter part as “in the day he offers his guilt [reparation] offering” (e.g., NIV and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 73, 84), or “in the day he realizes his guilt” (e.g., NRSV and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:319, 338).