Keraia
Leviticus 5

Leviticus 5:15

Laws for Guilt Offerings · Leviticus 5:14–19
Read Leviticus 5

Translations

Modern
“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.
Traditional
If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:
Literal
“If a soul acts unfaithfully—an unfaithfulness—and sins in error from the holy things of YHWH, then he shall bring his guilt offering to YHWH: an unblemished ram of the flock, in your valuation of silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering.
Latin
Anima si prævaricans cæremonias, per errorem, in his quæ Domino sunt sanctificata, peccaverit, offeret pro delicto suo arietem immaculatum de gregibus, qui emi potest duobus siclis, juxta pondus sanctuarii:

Original

Hebrew
English
“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.

Notes

Leviticus 5:15

  • sins unintentionally: Damage to sacred property (objects or land set apart for God) was treated differently from damage to ordinary property. A sacrifice could only restore sacred property if the damage was done by accident. If someone harmed sacred things on purpose, such as vandalizing them, it was considered blasphemy (disrespect toward God).

    As with other deliberate sins, there was no specific way to atone for it (see Numbers 15:30–31). A true believer would not defiantly continue in sin (see 1 John 3:9).

  • sanctuary shekel: This was not a coin but a standardized unit of weight. They used it to evaluate the offered ram. Some scholars suggest this text allows substituting the appropriate amount of silver for the ram.

Leviticus 5:14–6:7

The guilt offering (called ’asham in Hebrew, meaning “guilt”) dealt with cases of property loss or damage. This could be either holy property set apart for God (Leviticus 5:14–16) or ordinary property belong to a person (6:1–7). The offering required both replacement and repayment for the loss (5:16; 6:5).

This offering could be called a “penalty offering” because the ram served as a penalty. It could also be called a “replacement offering” because a person had to replace the loss before offering the ram. In the guilt offering, the loss was not only a failure in God's eyes, as with the sin offering (5:14–6:7). It was also a loss of property to another person or to the sanctuary. Compare Matthew 5:23–24.

Theme notes and profiles

Ancient Law Codes Atonement Pure Worship

Measurements

  • sanctuary shekel: About 0.4 oz (11.4 g)

Parallels

Leviticus 6:1–7 Leviticus 7:1–10

Glossary

Biblical Concept of Law Deuteronomy, Book of Guilt Offering History of Israel Law of Moses Leviticus, Book of Moses Offerings and Sacrifices Worship

Topics

Atonement by Money Fine: (A Penalty) Ignorance: Sins of Money of the Jews Regulated by the Standard of Sanctuary Money: Atonement Priest: Benefits of Trespass Money and Other Trepass offerings Trespass offering: Consisted of a Ram Without Blemish Trespass offering: To be offered for Sins of Ignorance in Holy Things Trespassing