Leviticus 5:15

15 "When a person {displays infidelity} and he sins in an unintentional wrong {in any of} Yahweh's holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh: a ram without defect from the flock as a guilt offering by your valuation [in] silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel.

Leviticus 5:15 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 5:15

If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance in
the holy things of the Lord
In the payment of tithes, or offering first fruits as he ought, by withholding them, or any part of them, or through eating of sacred things he ought not:

then shall he bring for his trespass unto the Lord;
for it being a trespass in holy things, it might be properly called a trespass to or against the Lord; unless this is rather to be understood of the offering brought to the Lord for his trespass as follows:

a ram without blemish out of the flocks;
out of the sheep and not the goats, as Ben Gersom observes; and this being for sacrifice, or for a trespass in holy things though ignorantly done, an offering of more value is required than for sins of ignorance in other cases, ( Leviticus 5:6 ) a type of Christ, who for his strength may be compared to a ram, and to one without blemish, for his purity and holiness, and to a choice one, selected out of the flock, for his being chosen out from among the people:

with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the
sanctuary, for a trespass offering;
that is, either an estimation was to be taken of the damage done in the holy things, an account of which was to be brought along with the ram, and the cost paid; or else the ram brought was to be of the value of, or worth shekels of silver; and the least of many being two, as Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom observe, the sense is, that the ram brought for the trespass offering should be at least worth two shekels of silver; so Jarchi and Ben Gersom.

Leviticus 5:15 In-Context

13 Thus the priest shall make atonement for him because of the sin that he has {committed} {in any of these}, and he shall be forgiven. It shall be for the priest, like the grain offering.'"
14 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
15 "When a person {displays infidelity} and he sins in an unintentional wrong {in any of} Yahweh's holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh: a ram without defect from the flock as a guilt offering by your valuation [in] silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel.
16 And he shall make restitution [for] what he sinned {because of} a holy thing and shall add one-fifth of {its value} onto it and shall give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.
17 "If a person when he sins {violates} one from all of Yahweh's commands that should not {be violated}, but he did not know, then he is guilty and he shall bear his guilt.

Footnotes 7

  • [a]. Or "a soul"
  • [b]. Literally "acts unfaithfully infidelity" or "is unfaithful [in] unfaithfulness"
  • [c]. Literally "from"
  • [d]. Or "and"
  • [e]. Or "for"
  • [f]. The Hebrew term refers collectively to both sheep and goats (small livestock animals)
  • [g]. Or "convertible into silver shekels" (NET, NRSV, TNK), "of the proper value in silver" (NIV; cp. ESV "valued in silver shekels," CSB), or "or you may buy one of equal value with silver" (NLT)
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.