LévitiqueChapitre 5

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If someone hears a public call to testify and, though he is a witness—having seen something or come to know it—does not speak up, he has sinned and must bear his guilt.

Or if someone touches anything unclean—whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of an unclean swarming creature—and it escapes his notice, then he is unclean and has incurred guilt.

Or if he touches human uncleanness—any uncleanness by which a person becomes unclean—and it escapes his notice, but afterward he comes to know it, he has incurred guilt.

Or if someone swears rashly with his lips to do harm or to do good—whatever a person may rashly swear in an oath—and it escapes his notice, but afterward he comes to know it, he has incurred guilt in any of these ways.

When he becomes guilty in any of these ways, he shall confess the sin he has committed.

As his penalty for the sin he has committed, he shall bring to the LORD a female from the flock, a ewe lamb or a female goat, as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.

But if he cannot afford a lamb, he shall bring to the LORD as his penalty for the sin he has committed two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.

He shall bring them to the priest, who shall present first the one for the sin offering. He shall wring off its head at the neck without severing it,

and he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood is drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.

The second bird he shall prepare as a burnt offering, according to the regulation. So the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.

But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he shall bring as his offering for the sin he has committed a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and lay no frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.

He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take a handful of it as its memorial portion and burn it on the altar on top of the offerings made by fire to the LORD. It is a sin offering.

So the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin he has committed in any of these ways, and he will be forgiven. The rest shall belong to the priest, as with the grain offering.

The LORD said to Moses:

If someone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally against any of the holy things of the LORD, he shall bring to the LORD as his guilt offering a ram without blemish from the flock, valued in silver shekels by the sanctuary shekel, as a guilt offering.

He shall make restitution for the holy thing in which he sinned, adding a fifth to it, and give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.

If someone sins by doing any of the things the LORD has commanded not to be done, even without knowing it, he is guilty and must bear his iniquity.

He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, at the set value, as a guilt offering. The priest shall make atonement for him for the error he committed unknowingly, and he will be forgiven.

It is a guilt offering; he has surely incurred guilt before the LORD.

The LORD said to Moses:

If someone sins and commits a breach of faith against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor about something entrusted to him or left in his care, or by robbery, or by defrauding his neighbor,

or if he finds lost property and lies about it and swears falsely—in any of these things that people do and so sin—

then, when he has sinned and become guilty, he shall return what he took by robbery or gained by fraud, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found,

or anything about which he swore falsely. He shall repay it in full and add a fifth to it, giving it to its owner on the day he brings his guilt offering.

And he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD: a ram without blemish from the flock, at the set value; he shall bring it to the priest.

The priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any of the things he did that brought guilt upon him.

Recherche

Résumé2

Chapitre 5

Main Theme: The chapter provides regulations for sin offerings and guilt offerings in cases of various oversights and transgressions.

Content: The chapter opens with four situations requiring a sin offering: failing to speak up when one should have borne witness, touching something unclean, coming into contact with human uncleanness, and making a thoughtless oath. The guilty person must confess their sin and bring an offering suited to their financial means—from young livestock, to two doves, down to flour. It then describes the guilt offering (אָשָׁם) for neglect concerning holy things and for wrongfully taking another's property, where the sinner must make full restitution plus one-fifth.

Key Words/Images:

Confession (וְהִתְוַדָּה): The guilty person must acknowledge their sin before the offering can be brought.
Graduated Offerings: The offering is adjusted to the giver's financial ability—from lambs to doves to flour—demonstrating God's grace toward the poor.
Guilt Offering (אָשׁם): A special offering for unfaithfulness regarding holy things and fellow humans, linked with restitution.
One-Fifth (חֲמִישִׁית): In cases of guilt against the sanctuary or a neighbor, one must repay the value plus 20 percent.

Contexte historique

Historical and Cultural Context for Leviticus 5

Events and Customs

The chapter describes several types of offerings that address various forms of guilt and sin. The sin offering (חַטָּאת, chaṭṭat) in verses 1–13 covers specific transgressions: failing to give testimony when called upon, ritual uncleanness through contact with dead animals or human impurity, and careless oath-taking. The graded system of offerings—from a lamb or goat to two doves to flour—demonstrates a social sensitivity that was unusual in ancient times, where religious participation was often reserved for the wealthy.

The guilt offering (אָשָׁם, asham) in verses 14–26 differs from the sin offering by requiring restitution in addition to the sacrifice. In cases of violation against holy things or against a neighbor, the offender had to repay the full amount plus one-fifth (20%). This combines ritual atonement with practical justice and compensation for the injured party.

Key Terms

The term אָלָה (alah, "curse/oath") in verse 1 refers to a public appeal for witnesses, often pronounced at the city gate. Anyone who heard such an oath, possessed relevant information, yet remained silent, incurred guilt. This reflects society's dependence on oral testimony within a largely oral legal culture.

מָעַל (ma'al, "treachery/breach of faith") in verses 15 and 21 describes a breach of trust—either against God (by misusing holy things) or against fellow humans. The word implies to "cross a boundary" into what belongs to another. That both types of treachery are addressed in the same chapter highlights the connection between the vertical (relationship with God) and the horizontal (relationship with others).

שֶׁקֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ (shekel ha-qodesh, "the holy shekel") in verse 15 was a standardized unit of weight used in temple contexts, likely heavier than ordinary commercial shekels (about 11.4 grams of silver). This ensured that the valuation of sacrificial animals followed a fixed, unmanipulable standard.

Chapter-Specific Findings

Archaeological discoveries of standardized weights from the Iron Age, marked with Hebrew letters, confirm the use of a system with fixed weight units. Several such weights have been found in excavations in Jerusalem and other locations in Judah, including some marked with the word "beka" (half a shekel). These findings confirm that the economic system described in verses 15–18, where sacrificial animals were assessed according to a fixed silver standard, was a practical reality and not merely a theoretical construct.

Personnages1

Moses2

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Mots-clés8

Sin offering — An offering given to God to atone for a sin or impurity, usually in the form of an animal that is sacrificed.
Guilt offering — An offering given to God to make restitution for a specific guilt or transgression, often linked to compensation for damages or injustices.
Priest — A religious leader and mediator between God and people, responsible for performing rituals and conveying God's message.
Sacrificial animal — An animal sacrificed to God as part of a ritual, often to atone for sins or impurity.
Blood — An important part of the offering process, symbolizing life and cleansing. The blood from the sacrificial animal was used in ritual actions to cleanse and sanctify.
Fat — The portion of the sacrificial animal that was burned on the altar as a pleasing aroma to God; it represented the best part of the animal and humanity's devotion to God.
Impurity — A state of spiritual defilement that could be transmitted through contact with certain objects, animals, or people. Impurity had to be removed through ritual actions before one could approach God.
Day of Atonement — An annual festival where priests were to perform special rituals to cleanse the tabernacle, the people, and themselves from sins and impurity.