Discovery BoxLeviticus 4:27-31 
Context4:27 “‘If an ordinary individual 1 sins by straying unintentionally 2 when he violates one of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, 3 and he pleads guilty 4:28 or his sin that he committed 4 is made known to him, 5 he must bring a flawless female goat 6 as his offering for the sin 7 that he committed. 4:29 He must lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter 8 the sin offering in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 4:30 Then the priest must take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 4:31 Then he must remove all of its fat (just as fat was removed from the peace offering sacrifice) and the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar for a soothing aroma to the Lord. So the priest will make atonement 9 on his behalf and he will be forgiven. 10
1 tn Heb “an individual from the people of the land”; cf. NASB “anyone of the common people” (KJV, ASV both similar); NAB “a private person.”
2 tn Heb “If one person sins by straying, from the people of the land.” See Lev 4:2 for a note on “straying.”
3 tn Heb “by doing it, one from the commandments of the
4 tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned is made known to him”; cf. NCV “when that person learns about his sin.”
5 tn Lev 4:27b-28a is essentially the same as 4:22b-23a (see the notes there).
6 tn Heb “a she-goat of goats, a female without defect”; NAB “an unblemished she-goat.”
7 tn Heb “on his sin.”
8 tc The LXX has a plural form here (see v. 24 above and the note on Lev 1:5a).
9 sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).
10 tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).
