Leviticus 5

EasyEnglish Bible

Sins for which people must give an offering

5 A person may know about something that is wrong. He may not speak about it at a public meeting. That person is sinning.

² God has said that some animals and insects are not clean. A person may touch a dead animal or an insect like that. If he does, he is doing something wrong. It is a sin even if he did not really want to touch it.

³ A person may touch something that another person has made bad. If he does, he is doing something wrong. He might not know that it is bad, but he is still doing a wrong thing.

⁴ A person is doing a wrong thing if he says any careless promise. The promise might be good or bad. People will tell him that he has not obeyed God's rules. Then he will know that he has sinned.

⁵ A person must tell the priest if he has done any of these things. ⁶ He must give a sheep or a goat for a sin offering. Then the Lord will not be angry with him. The priest will kill the animal as a sacrifice to atone for that sin.

What the people should do if they do not have much money

⁷ A person may not have money to buy a sheep or a goat. If he does not, he must buy two doves or two pigeons.^[a] He must give them to the Lord. One bird will be a sin offering. The second bird will be a burnt offering.

⁸ The priest will bring one of the birds to the altar. It is the sin offering. He will break the neck of the bird, but he will not pull the head off. ⁹ He will shake some of the blood onto the side of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not shake onto the floor. He must pour it in front of the altar. ¹⁰ The priest will burn the other bird. God will not be angry with the man when the priest does this.

¹¹ A person may not have money to buy two doves or two pigeons. If he does not, he must give a tenth of an ephah (about two litres) of flour. He must not put oil or incense on the flour because it is a sin offering. ¹² He must take it to the priest. The priest will burn some of the flour on the altar as a special part of the flour. It is a sin offering to the Lord. ¹³ He will forgive the person when the priest does this. The flour that he did not burn is like the grain offering. It belongs to the priests.” ’

The gift to the Lord when a person does wrong things

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁵ ‘If a person does not obey the Lord's holy rules he is sinning. He must give a male sheep to the Lord. He must do this even if he did not know that he had sinned. It is a gift to the Lord to pay for his sins. It must be a perfect male animal. It must be worth the correct amount of money. ¹⁶ He must also give money worth one fifth more. The person must give the sheep and the money to the priest. The priest will sacrifice the sheep. It is an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. God will forgive the person.

¹⁷ A person might do wrong things against the Lord. But the person might not know that they were wrong. He is sinning. ¹⁸ When he knows about it, he must bring a sheep to the priest. The animal must be a perfect male. The sheep must be worth the right amount of money. The priest will give the sheep to the Lord. It will be an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. Then the Lord will forgive the person. ¹⁹ The sheep is an offering because the person did not obey the Lord.’