Leviticus 5:16

16 And he shall make compensation for that wherein he has sinned in the holy things; and he shall add the fifth part to it, and give it to the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of transgression, and shall be forgiven him.

Leviticus 5:16 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 5:16

And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in
the holy thing
This seems to favour the sense of the word "estimation", in the preceding verse, as understood of the estimate of the damage done in the holy things, which belonged to the priests, for which recompense was to be made according as the damage was valued:

and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest;
besides paying the whole damage, he was to give a fifth part of the whole to the priest; which was ordered to show the evil nature of the sin of sacrilege, though done ignorantly, and to make men careful and cautious of committing it: the fifth part, according to the Jewish writers ^F6, is the fourth part of that of which a man eats, ("viz." of the holy things,) which is the fifth of the whole; thus, if he eats the value of a penny, he pays the penny and the fourth part of one, and so it is in all the fifths mentioned in the law; or, as Ben Gersom on the place expresses it, if he has had profit by the holy things to the value of four shekels, he pays five shekels; for the fifth of the shekels they add the fifth part to the four shekels; in this he observes, all are alike, the priest, the anointed, the prince, and a private person, for the law makes no difference between them in this:

and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the
trespass offering;
by offering it up for him:

and it shall be forgiven him;
after he has paid the whole damage, and a fifth part besides, and offered the trespass offering for atonement; (See Gill on Leviticus 5:10).

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Trumot, c. 6. 1.

Leviticus 5:16 In-Context

14 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

15 The soul which shall be really unconscious, and shall sin unwillingly in any of the holy things of the Lord, shall even bring to the Lord for his transgression, a ram of the flock without blemish, valued according to shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for his wherein he transgressed.

16 And he shall make compensation for that wherein he has sinned in the holy things; and he shall add the fifth part to it, and give it to the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of transgression, and shall be forgiven him.

17 And the soul which shall sin, and do one thing any of the commandments of the Lord, which it is not right to do, and has not known it, and shall have transgressed, and shall have contracted guilt,

18 he shall even bring a ram without blemish from the flock, at a price of silver for his transgression to the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for his trespass of ignorance, wherein he ignorantly trespassed, and he knew it not; and it shall be forgiven him.