Leviticus 4:13-21

13 ¹"If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally^[a] and ²the 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,^[b]

14 ³when 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.

15 And the elders of the congregation ⁴shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be killed before the LORD.

16 Then ⁵the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting,

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 ⁶with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this. ⁷And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.

21 And he shall carry the bull ⁸outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.

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Leviticus 4:13-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 4

This chapter contains the law of the sin offering, which was offered for sins committed through ignorance, error, and mistake, Le 4:1,2 and gives an account of the matter of them, and the rites belonging thereunto, which were different according to the persons for whom it was made, as for the anointed priest, Le 4:3-12 for the whole congregation, Le 4:13-21 and for the ruler, Le 4:22-26 and for any of the common people, Le 4:27-35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 8

1. Numbers 15:24-26
2. Leviticus 5:2-4
3. ver. 23
4. See Leviticus 1:4
5. See ver. 5-12
6. ver. 3
7. Numbers 15:25, 28
8. [See ver. 12 above]

Footnotes 2

[a]. Or makes a mistake
[b]. Or suffer for their guilt, or are guilty; also verses 22, 27, and chapter 5

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.