Our Father Receives the Guilty
5 1 If anyone sins because he hears a public call to testify and is a witness—whether he has seen or come to know something—but does not speak up, he is held responsible for his guilt.
2 Or if anyone touches anything unclean—the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or of unclean livestock, or of an unclean swarming creature—without realizing it, he becomes unclean and guilty.
3 Or if he touches human uncleanness—any uncleanness by which a person becomes defiled—without realizing it, and when he finds out, he is guilty.
4 Or if anyone rashly swears to do evil or to do good—in any matter people swear about without thinking—without realizing it, and when he finds out, he is guilty in any of these. 5 When anyone is guilty in any of these matters, he must confess the sin he has committed. 6 Then he must bring to our Father, as his penalty for the sin he has committed, a female from the flock—a lamb or a goat—as a sin offering; and the priest will make atonement for him for his sin.
7 But if he cannot afford a lamb, he must bring to our Father, as his penalty for the sin he has committed, two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 8 He must bring them to the priest, who will offer first the one for the sin offering. He will wring its head from its neck without severing it completely, 9 and he will sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood will be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. 10 The second bird he will offer as a burnt offering, according to the regulation. So the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.
11 But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then as his offering for the sin he has committed he must bring about two quarts of fine flour for a sin offering. He must put no oil on it and lay no frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering. 12 He must bring it to the priest, who will take a handful of it as its memorial portion and burn it on the altar on top of the offerings made to our Father by fire. It is a sin offering. 1 1 v12 The memorial portion is a token handful burned on the altar, representing the whole offering. 13 So the priest will make atonement for him for any of these sins he has committed, and he will be forgiven. The rest will belong to the priest, like the grain offering.
Our Father Restores the Unfaithful
14 Then our Father said to Moses,
15 "If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally against any of the holy things of our Father, he must bring to our Father as his guilt offering a ram without blemish from the flock, of the proper value in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel—a guilt offering. 2 2 v15 The guilt offering required not only a sacrifice but repayment for the wrong done. Isaiah later calls the suffering servant himself a guilt offering (Isaiah 53:10) — Jesus is the one who both pays our debt and gives himself for it. 16 He must make restitution for the holy thing in which he sinned, adding a fifth to its value, and give it to the priest. The priest will make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.
17 If anyone sins by doing any of the things our Father has commanded not to be done—even though he did not know it—he is guilty and is held responsible for his iniquity. 18 He must bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, of the proper value, as a guilt offering. The priest will make atonement for him for the mistake he made without knowing it, and he will be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before our Father."