They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of ¹  the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.”

They inquired, “What is the guilt offering that we should send to him?” They replied, “The Philistine leaders number five. So send five gold sores and five gold mice, for it is the same plague that has afflicted both you and your leaders.

So the priest will make atonement ¹  on his behalf before the Lord and he will be forgiven ²  for whatever he has done to become guilty.” ³ 

You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. ¹ 

But Ephraim bitterly ¹  provoked him to anger; so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed, ²  his Lord ³  will repay him for the contempt he has shown. ⁴ 

“If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated ¹  (although he did not know it at the time, ²  but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity ³ 

Falling at his feet, she said, “My lord, I accept all the guilt! But please let your female servant speak with my lord! Please listen to the words of your servant!

The Tekoan woman said to the king, “My lord the king, let any blame fall on me and on the house of my father. But let the king and his throne be innocent!”

If I sinned, then you would watch me and you would not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹ ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean ²  and have no iniquity.

You pardoned ¹  the wrongdoing of your people; you forgave ²  all their sin. (Selah)

Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers which face the courtyard are holy chambers where the priests ¹  who approach the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings – the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, because the place is holy.

These must be on Aaron and his sons when they enter ¹  to the tent of meeting, or when they approach ²  the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they bear no iniquity and die. ³  It is to be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants ⁴  after him. ⁵ 

“Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sanctuary? For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, ¹  to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord.

Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart, and put in a chest beside it the gold objects you are sending to him as a guilt offering. You should then send it on its way.

Joab replied, “May the Lord make his army ¹  a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?” ² 

From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ¹  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ²  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer ¹  for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer ²  for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness. ³ 

“Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have brought up ¹  your own guilt by uncovering your transgressions and revealing your sins through all your actions, for this reason you will be taken by force. ² 

It will be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron will bear the iniquity of the holy things, ¹  which the Israelites are to sanctify by all their holy gifts; ²  it will always be on his forehead, for their acceptance ³  before the Lord.