Leviticus 5:5

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity. ²Or if a person touches anything unclean-whether the carcass of any unclean wild animal or livestock or crawling creature-even if he is unaware of it, he is unclean and guilty. ³Or if he touches human uncleanness-anything by which one becomes unclean-even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty. ⁴Or if someone swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do anything good or evil-in whatever matter a man may rashly pronounce an oath-even if he is unaware of it, when he later realizes it, he will be guilty. ⁵If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed,⁶and he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin he has committed: a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering. And the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

confess: Leviticus 16:21, Leviticus 26:40, Numbers 5:7, Joshua 7:19, Ezra 10:11, Ezra 10:12, Job 33:27, Psalms 32:5, Proverbs 28:13, Jeremiah 3:13, Daniel 9:4, Romans 10:10, 1 John 1:8-10

Reciprocal: Ecclesiastes 5:6 - before

Cross-References

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground-because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return."

Genesis 5:7
And after he had become the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:8
So Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:10
And after he had become the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:11
So Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:12
When Kenan was 70 years old, he became the father of Mahalaleel.

Genesis 5:14
So Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:21
When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah.

Genesis 5:22
And after he had become the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things,.... Before expressed in the preceding verses; the Targum of Jonathan is,

"in one of the four things,''

which Ben Gersom particularly mentions in the oath of witness, or the pollution of the sanctuary, or the pollution of its holy things, or a vain oath:

that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that [thing]; not make confession of sin in general, but of that particular sin he is guilty of; and this he was to do before he brought his offering, or at least at the time of his bringing it; for without confession his offering would be of no avail; and which he made, as Ben Gersom says, by laying his hand on the head of the offering, thereby signifying and declaring his guilt, and that he deserved to die as the creature would about to be sacrificed for him; or he might make a verbal confession and acknowledgment of his offence. Fagius, from the Jewish writers, has given us the form of it, which was this;

"I beseech thee, O Lord, I have sinned, I have done wickedly, I have transgressed before thee, so and so have I done; and, lo, I repent, and am ashamed of what I have done, and I will never do the same again.''

Though perhaps this form may be of too modern a date, yet doubtless somewhat like this was pronounced; and they make confession of sin necessary to all sacrifices, and say x, atonement is not made by them without repentance and confession.

x Maimon. Hilchot Teshubah, c. 1. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Special occasions are mentioned on which sin-offerings are to be made with a particular confession of the offence for which atonement is sought Leviticus 5:5.

Leviticus 5:1

Swearing - Adjuration. The case appears to be that of one who has been put upon his oath as a witness by a magistrate, and fails to utter all he has seen and heard (compare the marginal references. and Proverbs 29:24; Numbers 5:21).

Leviticus 5:2-3

Hid from him - Either through forgetfulness or indifference, so that purification had been neglected. In such a case there had been a guilty negligence, and a sin-offering was required. On the essential connection between impurity and the sin-offering, see Leviticus 12:1.

Leviticus 5:4

Pronouncing - Idly speaking Psalms 106:33. The reference is to an oath to do something uttered in recklessness or passion and forgotten as soon as uttered.

Leviticus 5:6

His trespass offering - Rather, as his forfeit, that is, whatever is due for his offence. The term “trespass-offering” is out of place here, since it has become the current designation for a distinct kind of sin-offering mentioned in the next section (see Leviticus 5:14 note).

A lamb or a kid of the goats - A sheep Leviticus 4:32 or a shaggy she-goat Leviticus 4:23.

Leviticus 5:7-10

See Leviticus 1:14-16; Leviticus 12:8. In the larger offerings of the ox and the sheep, the fat which was burned upon the altar represented, like the burnt-offering, the dedication of the worshipper; in this case, the same meaning was conveyed by one of the birds being treated as a distinct burnt-offering.

Leviticus 5:7

A lamb - One of the flock, either a sheep or a goat.

For his trespass, which he hath committed - As his forfeit for the sin he hath committed.

Leviticus 5:11

tenth part of an ephah i. e. - “the tenth deal;” probably less than half a gallon. See Leviticus 19:36 note. This sin-offering of meal was distinguished from the ordinary מנחה mı̂nchāh Leviticus 2:1 by the absence of oil and frankincense.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Leviticus 5:5. He shall confess that he hath sinned — Even restitution was not sufficient without this confession, because a man might make restitution without being much humbled; but the confession of sin has a direct tendency to humble the soul, and hence it is so frequently required in the Holy Scriptures, as without humiliation there can be no salvation.