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Leviticus 4

New International Reader’s Version



1 The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites. Tell them, “Suppose someone sins without meaning to. And that person does something the LORD commands us not to do. 3 ‘ “Suppose it is the anointed priest who sins. And suppose he brings guilt on the people. Then he must bring a young bull to the LORD. It must not have any flaws. He must bring it as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. 4 He must bring the bull to the entrance to the tent of meeting in the sight of the LORD. He must place his hand on its head. He must kill it there in the sight of the LORD. 5 Then the anointed priest must take some of the bull’s blood. He must carry it into the tent of meeting. 6 He must dip his finger into the blood. He must sprinkle some of it seven times in the sight of the LORD. He must do it in front of the curtain of the Most Holy Room. 7 Then the priest must put some of the blood on the horns of the altar for burning incense. The horns stick out from the upper four corners of the altar. The incense burned on that altar has a sweet smell. The altar stands in front of the LORD in the tent of meeting. The priest must pour out the rest of the bull’s blood at the bottom of the altar for burnt offerings. That altar stands at the entrance to the tent. 8 He must remove all the fat from the bull for the sin offering. It includes the fat that is connected to the inside parts. 9 It includes both kidneys with the fat on them next to the lower back muscles. It also includes the long part of the liver. He must remove all of it together with the kidneys. 10 He must remove it in the same way the fat is removed from an ox sacrificed as a friendship offering. Then the priest must burn all of it on the altar for burnt offerings. 11 But the bull’s hide must be taken away. So must all its meat. So must its head and legs. And so must its inside parts and guts. 12 In other words, all the rest of the bull must be taken away. The priest must take it outside the camp. He must take it to a ‘clean’ place. He must take it to the place where the ashes are thrown. Then he must burn it there in a wood fire on a pile of ashes. 13 ‘ “Or suppose the whole community of Israel sins without meaning to. They do something the LORD commands us not to do. Suppose they realise their guilt. 14 And suppose their sin becomes known. Then they must bring a young bull as a sin offering. They must offer it in front of the tent of meeting. 15 The elders of the community must place their hands on the bull’s head in the sight of the LORD. The bull must be killed in the sight of the LORD. 16 Then the anointed priest must take some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. 17 He must dip his finger into the blood. He must sprinkle it seven times in the sight of the LORD. He must do it in front of the curtain. 18 He must put some of the blood on the horns that stick out from the upper four corners of the altar. The altar stands in front of the LORD in the tent of meeting. The priest must pour out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar for burnt offerings. That altar stands at the entrance to the tent. 19 He must remove all the fat from the bull. He must burn it on the altar. 20 He must do the same thing with that bull as he did with the bull for the sin offering. When he does, he will pay for the sin of the community. And they will be forgiven. 21 Then he must take the bull outside the camp. He must burn it just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the whole community. 22 ‘ “Or suppose a leader sins without meaning to. He disobeys any of the commands of the LORD his God. 23 And suppose he realises his guilt and his sin becomes known. Then he must bring an offering. It must be a male goat. It must not have any flaws. 24 He must place his hand on the goat’s head. He must kill it. He must do it at the place where the animals for burnt offerings are killed in the sight of the LORD. His offering is a sin offering. 25 Then the priest must dip his finger into some of the blood of the sin offering. He must put it on the horns that stick out from the upper four corners of the altar for burnt offerings. He must pour out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. 26 He must burn all the fat on the altar. He must burn it in the same way he burned the fat of the friendship offering. When he does, he will pay for the sin of the leader. And the leader will be forgiven. 27 ‘ “Or suppose someone in the community sins without meaning to. They disobey any of the LORD’s commands. 28 And suppose they realise their guilt and their sin becomes known. Then they must bring an offering for the sin they have committed. It must be a female goat. It must not have any flaws. 29 They must place their hand on the head of the animal for the sin offering. It must be killed at the place where the animals for burnt offerings are killed. 30 Then the priest must dip his finger into some of the blood. He must put it on the horns that stick out from the upper four corners of the altar for burnt offerings. He must pour out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. 31 They must remove all the fat in the same way the fat is removed from the friendship offering. The priest must burn it on the altar. Its smell pleases the LORD. When the priest burns the offering, he will pay for their sin. And they will be forgiven. 32 ‘ “Suppose someone brings a lamb as their sin offering. Then they must bring a female animal. It must not have any flaws. 33 They must place their hand on its head. They must kill it as a sin offering. They must do it at the place where the animals for burnt offerings are killed. 34 Then the priest must dip his finger into some of the blood of the sin offering. He must put it on the horns that stick out from the upper four corners of the altar for burnt offerings. He must pour out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. 35 They must remove all the fat in the same way the fat is removed from the lamb for the friendship offering. The priest must burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the LORD. When he does, he will pay for the sin they have committed. And they will be forgiven. 

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Leviticus 4

English Standard Version



1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally[1] in any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them, (Le 4:13; Le 4:22; Le 4:27; Le 5:15; Le 5:17; Le 5:18; Nu 15:22; Ps 19:12) 3 if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. (Le 9:2; Heb 7:27) 4 He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the Lord. (Le 1:3) 5 And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting, (Le 4:16; Le 5:9; Le 16:14; Nu 19:4; Isa 52:15) 6 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. (Le 4:5) 7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. (Ex 29:12; Ex 39:38; Le 5:9; Le 8:15; Le 9:9; Le 16:18) 8 And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall remove from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails (Le 3:3) 9 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys (Le 3:4) 10 (just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offerings); and the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. 11 But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung— (Ex 29:14; Le 9:11; Nu 19:5) 12 all the rest of the bull—he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up. (Ex 29:14; Ex 33:7; Le 6:11; Le 10:4; Le 14:3; Le 16:27; Le 24:14; Le 24:23; Heb 13:11) 13 “If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally[2] and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt,[3] (Le 5:2; Nu 15:24) 14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting. (Le 4:23) 15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull shall be killed before the Lord. (Le 1:4) 16 Then the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting, (Le 4:5) 17 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil. 18 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the tent of meeting before the Lord, and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 19 And all its fat he shall take from it and burn on the altar. 20 Thus shall he do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven. (Le 4:3; Nu 15:25; Nu 15:28) 21 And he shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly. (Le 4:12) 22 “When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, (Le 4:2; Le 4:13; Le 4:27) 23 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish, (Le 4:14) 24 and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord; it is a sin offering. (Le 1:4) 25 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. (Le 4:7; Le 4:18; Le 4:30; Le 4:34) 26 And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven. (Le 3:3; Le 3:5; Le 4:20; Le 4:31; Le 4:35; Le 5:10; Le 5:13; Le 5:16; Le 5:18; Le 6:7; Le 14:18; Le 15:15) 27 “If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, (Le 4:2; Nu 15:27) 28 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. (Le 4:14; Le 4:23) 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. (Le 1:4; Le 4:4; Le 4:15; Le 4:24) 30 And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 31 And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. (Ge 8:21; Le 1:9; Le 3:3; Le 3:14; Le 4:10; Le 4:20; Le 4:26; Le 4:35) 32 “If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish (Le 4:28) 33 and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. (Le 4:29) 34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 35 And all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the Lord’s food offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven. (Le 3:3; Le 3:9; Le 4:20; Le 4:26; Le 4:31) 

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