Vayikra 5:3

3 Or if he touch the tum’at adam (uncleanness of man), whatsoever tumah it be that a man shall be made unclean therewith, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty.

Vayikra 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 5:3

Or if he touch the uncleanness of man
The dead body of a man, or the bone of a dead body, or a grave, or any profluvious or menstruous person:

whatsoever uncleanness [it be] that a man shall be defiled withal:
not morally, but ceremonially:

and it be hid from him;
he is not sensible that he has touched any thing ceremonially unclean:

when he knoweth [of it], then he shall be guilty:
acknowledge his guilt, and offer a sacrifice for it, as after directed.

Vayikra 5:3 In-Context

1 And if a nefesh sin, after he hears a public adjuration to give testimony, and he is an ed (witness), whether he hath seen or known of it; if he does not utter it, then he shall bear his avon (iniquity).

2 Or if a nefesh touch anything tamei (unclean), whether it be a nivlat chayyah teme’ah (carcass of an unclean beast), or a nivlat behemah teme’ah (carcass of unclean livestock), or the nivlat sheretz tamei (carcass of unclean creeping things), and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be tamei, and guilty.

3 Or if he touch the tum’at adam (uncleanness of man), whatsoever tumah it be that a man shall be made unclean therewith, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty.

4 Or if a nefesh swear, rashly pronouncing with his lips to do harah, or to do hatov, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with a shevuah (oath), and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these.

5 And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that v’hitvaddah (he shall confess) that he hath sinned in that thing;