Leviticus 4
Leviticus 4:1 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,
Leviticus 4:2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and this is what you should say, if any throat fails[1] inadvertently any of Yahveh’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them,
Leviticus 4:3 if it is the anointed priest who fails, thus bringing the need for reparation on the people, then he will offer for the failure that he has made a perfect bull from the herd to Yahveh for a failure offering.[2]
Leviticus 4:4 He will bring the bull to the entrance of the conference tent to Yahveh’s face and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull to Yahveh’s face.
Leviticus 4:5 And the anointed priest will take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the conference tent,
Leviticus 4:6 and the priest will dip his finger in the blood and spritz part of the blood seven times to Yahveh’s face at the face of the veil of the sanctuary.
Leviticus 4:7 And the priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense to Yahveh’s face that is in the conference tent, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he will pour out at the base of the altar of ascending offering that is at the entrance of the conference tent.
Leviticus 4:8 And all the fat of the bull of the failure offering he will remove from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails
Leviticus 4:9 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he will remove with the kidneys
Leviticus 4:10 (just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice for healthy relationships); and the priest will burn them on the altar of the ascending offering.
Leviticus 4:11 But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung —
Leviticus 4:12 all the rest of the bull — he will carry outside the camp to a pure place, to the ash heap, and will burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it will be burned up.
Leviticus 4:13 “If the whole congregation of Israel fails inadvertently and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the collected assembly, and they do any one of the things that by Yahveh’s commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their offence,
Leviticus 4:14 when the failure becomes known, the collected assembly will offer a bull from the herd for a failure offering and bring it at the face of the conference tent.
Leviticus 4:15 And the elders of the congregation will lay their hands on the head of the bull to Yahveh’s face, and the bull will be killed to Yahveh’s face.
Leviticus 4:16 Then the anointed priest will bring some of the blood of the bull into the conference tent,
Leviticus 4:17 and the priest will dip his finger in the blood and spritz it seven times to Yahveh’s face in the face of the veil.
Leviticus 4:18 And he will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the conference tent to Yahveh’s face, and the rest of the blood he will pour out at the base of the altar of ascending offering that is at the entrance of the conference tent.
Leviticus 4:19 And all its fat he will take from it and burn on the altar.
Leviticus 4:20 Thus will he do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the failure offering, so will he do with this. And the priest will provide reconciliation for them, and they will be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:21 And he will carry the bull outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the failure offering for the collected assembly.
Leviticus 4:22 “When a leader fails, doing inadvertently any one of all the things that by the commandments of Yahveh his God ought not to be done, and realizes his offence,
Leviticus 4:23 or the failure is made known to him, he will bring as his offering a goat, a perfect male,
Leviticus 4:24 and will lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the ascending offering to Yahveh’s face; it is a failure offering.
Leviticus 4:25 Then the priest will take some of the blood of the failure offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascending offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of ascending offering.
Leviticus 4:26 And all its fat he will burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice for healthy relationships. So, the priest will provide reconciliation for him for his failure, and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:27 “If any one throat of the people in the land fails inadvertently in doing any one of the things that by Yahveh’s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his offence,
Leviticus 4:28 or the failure is made known to him, he will bring for his offering a goat, a perfect female, for his mistake which he has made.
Leviticus 4:29 And he will lay his hand on the head of the failure offering and kill the failure offering in the place of the ascending offering.
Leviticus 4:30 And the priest will take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascending offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.
Leviticus 4:31 And all its fat he will remove, as the fat is removed from the sacrifice for healthy relationships, and the priest will burn it on the altar for a pacifying aroma to Yahveh. And the priest will provide reconciliation for him, and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:32 “If he brings a lamb as his offering for a failure offering, he will bring a perfect female
Leviticus 4:33 and lay his hand on the head of the failure offering and kill it for a failure offering in the place where they kill the ascending offering.
Leviticus 4:34 Then the priest will take some of the blood of the failure offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascending offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.
Leviticus 4:35 And all its fat he will remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice for healthy relationships, and the priest will burn it on the altar, on top of Yahveh’s fire offerings. And the priest will provide reconciliation for him for the failure, and he will be forgiven.
[1] חָטָא = fail, failure, cleanse. Leviticus 4:2, 3, 14, 22, 23, 27, 28, 35; 5:1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17; 6:2, 3, 4, 26; 8:15; 9:15; 14:49, 52; 19:22.
[2] חַטָּאת = failure, failure offering. Leviticus 4:3, 8, 14, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35; 5:6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; 6:17, 25, 30; 7:7, 37; 8:2, 14; 9:2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 15, 22; 10:16, 17, 19; 12:6, 8; 14:13, 19, 22, 31; 15:15, 30; 16:3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 15, 16, 21, 25, 27, 30, 34; 19:22; 23:19; 26:18, 21, 24, 28.
Leviticus 4 quotes:
“The sin offering points to many lessons that are crucial for a healthy Christian life. Jesus, our sin offering, makes atonement for our sins of ignorance — the unintentional error of our ways — for which restitution is not possible on our own (Leviticus 4:5-12). This offering portrays expiation for our inadvertent sins, negligence, and failures. When we realize some specific sin we have committed (Leviticus 4:23), we are to immediately bring it before the Lord, receiving the forgiveness paid for through Christ’s work on the cross.”
Stringer, Doug. Born to Die : So We May Live. Bridge-Logos, 2006. p. 83.
“Leviticus 4 thus interprets the sacrifice in the light of human sin and the necessity of atonement. This is where the heart of the theologians of the time beats, the compelling evidence for which is the extremely high concentration of vocabulary relating to sin and atonement in chaps. 4-16.”
Gerstenberger, Erhard S. Leviticus : A Commentary. 1st American ed, Westminster John Knox Press, 1996. p. 71.
“Leviticus 4 gives a careful description of an offering made as atonement for the sin of ignorance, because a person might do something wrong and be unaware of it. But even when done inadvertently, sin is still sin. I may not know what I have done wrong, but God knows it. This entire chapter deals with sinning in ignorance on the part of the priest, the whole congregation, the ruler, or any one of the common people.”
Gutzke, Manford George. Plain Talk on Leviticus and Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House., 1981. p. 12.
Leviticus 4 links:
a devoted community
ACST 50- The Sacrifice
lamb instead of goat
ripple effect
sin is a mistake
when democracy fails us
when I fail myself
when our leaders fail us
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