Leviticus 4:1-6

The purification offering

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 Say to the Israelites: Do the following whenever someone sins unintentionally against any of the LORD's commands, doing something that shouldn't be done:

3 If it is the anointed priest who has sinned, making the people guilty of sin, he must present to the LORD a flawless bull from the herd as a purification offering for the sin he has committed.

4 He will bring the bull before the LORD at the entrance to the meeting tent and press his hand on the bull's head. Then he will slaughter the bull before the LORD.

5 The anointed priest will take some of the bull's blood and take it into the meeting tent.

6 The priest will dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, toward the sanctuary's inner curtain.

Leviticus 4:1-6 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or sin offering (Heb hatta’t, which recurs frequently in Leviticus)