UNROLL
First light at the gate of the tabernacle court: the woven screen of blue, purple and scarlet between bronze-footed posts, and one line of bare footprints in the sand leading up to it.

The Book of

Leviticus 5

What if you only realize later what you have done? Confess it, bring what you can afford, and make it right.

19 verses≈ 5 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–7The offeringsHow sinners draw nearChapter 5
  2. 8–10The priestsOrdained, and a warning
  3. 11–15Clean and uncleanLife before a holy God
  4. 16The Day of AtonementSins carried away
  5. 17–27A holy peopleBe holy, for I am holy

Sins Requiring a Sin Offering

The law

When someone becomes guilty

  1. Speech

    Silent when called to testify

    “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.

  2. Unclean

    Touching an unclean carcass

    Or 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.

  3. Touching human uncleanness

    Or 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.

  4. Speech

    A rash oath

    Or 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.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed, and 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.

Leviticus 5:5–6

A young female lamb, clean and whole, stands on the sand by the gate of the tabernacle court in morning light, a shepherd's hand loosely holding her cord.
God

Reflect

Say it to God

Before any lamb, birds or flour, God asked for something harder: to “confess the sin he has committed.” Not a vague sorry, but the thing itself, named. And He made sure no one was too poor to come back: if a lamb was too much, two birds; if birds were too much, a bowl of flour. Is there something you have only now realized you did, or something you have kept quiet about? Write it down as plainly as you can, and give it to God. Then pray: Lord, I confess it; thank You that You are faithful to forgive.

Laws for Guilt Offerings

Then the LORD said to Moses, “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.

At the court gate, a priest in white linen holds up a simple bronze balance with rough lumps of silver in one pan and smooth stone weights in the other; an unblemished ram stands beside him.

Regarding 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.

At dawn a single unblemished ram with heavy curled horns stands alone and still beside the white linen wall of the tabernacle court, its long shadow on the sand.

If someone sins and violates any of the LORD’s commandments even though he was unaware, he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. He 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. It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD.”

0:24

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Question

Quick question

God scaled the sin offering to what a person had.

If someone could not afford a lamb or even two birds, what could he bring?

Sin or guilt?

Confessname the sin (5:5)Sin offeringcleanses sin’s stain ·4:1–5:13Guilt offeringrepays the wrong ·5:14–6:7Bring what youcanlamb, two birds orflourRepay, plus afifthwith a ram (5:15–16;6:5–6)Forgiven5:10, 13, 16, 18

Whiteboard

Sin stains, and sin also wrongs. The sin offering cleansed the stain; the guilt offering paid back what was wrongly taken, with a fifth added. Both began with honest confession, and both ended the same way: “and he will be forgiven.”

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Leviticus 5

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A verse to carry with you

If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed, and 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.

Leviticus 5:5–6

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