Leviticus 4

## Summary Leviticus 4 establishes procedures for sin offerings (*chattat*, H2403H) required when different parties — the anointed priest, the whole congregation, a leader, or an ordinary individual — sin unintentionally through *shegagah* ("inadvertence", H7684). The chapter specifies graduated offerings (bull, goat, female goat, or female lamb) according to the status of the offender, with detailed instructions on hand-leaning, blood manipulation, and disposal of fat and carcass. ## Key words - *shegagah* ("inadvertence", H7684) — a feminine singular noun marking the sin as unintentional; it frames the entire chapter's legal scope, distinguishing this category of sin from deliberate transgression. - *chattat* ("sin offering", H2403H) — appears repeatedly as the technical term for the offering itself, distinct from *chatta't* ("sin", H2403B) used for the wrongdoing; the same consonantal root serves both the act and its ritual remedy. - *samakh* ("he will lean", H5564) — qal sequential perfect describing the hand-leaning gesture (*ve-samakh... et-yado*) performed on the animal's head before slaughter, repeated for each offering type (vv. 4, 15, 24, 29, 33). - *kipper* ("he will make atonement", H3722A) — piel sequential perfect, the intensive stem marking a deliberate priestly action; it closes each case's procedure and precedes the declaration *nislach lo* ("it will be forgiven to him", H5545). - *nasi'* ("a leader", H5387A) — masculine singular noun introducing the third case (v. 22); the text conspicuously omits the conditional *im* ("if") used for the other cases, instead opening with *asher* ("that/when", H0834A). ## What the text says The chapter is structured as four parallel case laws, each introduced by a conditional or relative clause identifying the offender: the anointed priest (v. 3, *im... yechetaʾ*, "if he will sin"), the whole congregation (v. 13, *ve-im kol-adat Yisraʾel yishgu*, "and if the whole congregation of Israel will go astray"), a leader (v. 22, *asher nasi yechetaʾ*, "that a leader will sin" — using *asher* rather than *im*), and an individual from the common people (v. 27, *ve-im nefesh achat techetaʾ*, "and if one person will sin"). Each case follows the same grammatical pattern: sequential perfect verbs (*ve-heviʾ*, "and he will bring"; *ve-samakh*, "and he will lean"; *ve-shachat*, "and he will slaughter") chain together the ritual steps, giving the text a procedural, almost checklist-like rhythm typical of legal instruction. The offering required scales with the offender's status: a bull (*par*, H6499) for the priest and the congregation, a male goat (*se'ir izim*, H8163B) for the leader, and a female goat or lamb (*se'irat izim*, H8166; *kivsah*, H3532) for the common individual. The blood ritual likewise differs in scope — blood brought into the Tent of Meeting and sprinkled before the curtain for the priest and congregation, but only applied to the altar horns for the leader and individual — reflecting a structural distinction in how far the blood rite penetrates the sanctuary based on who sinned. ## Differences between versions In verse 3, the Hebrew *le-ashmat ha-am* ("to the guilt of the people", H0819) is rendered in the LXX as *τοῦ λαὸν ἁμαρτεῖν* ("[causing] the people to sin"), shifting the phrase from a state of guilt to a causative action. In verse 13, the Hebrew *ve-neʿlam davar me-'einei ha-qahal* ("and the matter will be hidden from the eyes of the assembly") appears in the LXX as *λάθῃ ῥῆμα ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς συναγωγῆς*, closely matching the Hebrew's passive construction, while the Vulgate's *per imperitiam* ("through ignorance") generalizes the specific image of the matter being hidden from view.