Imamat 5:7-11

5:7 “‘If he cannot afford an animal from the flock, ¹  he must bring his penalty for guilt for his sin that he has committed, ²  two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ³  to the Lord, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. 5:8 He must bring them to the priest and present first the one that is for a sin offering. The priest ⁴  must pinch ⁵  its head at the nape of its neck, but must not sever the head from the body. ⁶  5:9 Then he must sprinkle ⁷  some of the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar, and the remainder of the blood ⁸  must be squeezed out at the base of the altar – it is a sin offering. 5:10 The second bird ⁹  he must make a burnt offering according to the standard regulation. ¹⁰  So the priest will make atonement ¹¹  on behalf of this person for ¹²  his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven. ¹³ 

5:11 “‘If he cannot afford ¹⁴  two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ¹⁵  he must bring as his offering for his sin which he has committed ¹⁶  a tenth of an ephah ¹⁷  of choice wheat flour ¹⁸  for a sin offering. He must not place olive oil on it and he must not put frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.

[5:7]  ¹ tn Heb “and if his hand does not reach enough of a flock animal” (see the note on v. 11 below). The term translated “animal from the flock” (שֶׂה, seh) is often translated “lamb” (e.g., KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV) or “sheep” (e.g., NRSV, TEV, NLT), but it clearly includes either a sheep or a goat here (cf. v. 6), referring to the smaller pasture animals as opposed to the larger ones (i.e., cattle; cf. 4:3). Some English versions use the more generic “animal” (e.g., NAB, CEV).

[5:7]  ² tn Heb “and he shall bring his guilt which he sinned,” which is an abbreviated form of Lev 5:6, “and he shall bring his [penalty for] guilt to the Lord for his sin which he committed.” The words “for his sin” have been left out in v. 7, and “to the Lord” has been moved so that it follows the mention of the birds.

[5:7]  ³ tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above.

[5:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “he.” The subject (“he”) refers to the priest here, not the offerer who presented the birds to the priest (cf. v. 8a).

[5:8]  ⁵ sn The action seems to involve both a twisting action, breaking the neck of the bird and severing its vertebrae, as well as pinching or nipping the skin, but in this case not severing the head from the main body (note the rest of this verse).

[5:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “he shall not divide [it]” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:305).

[5:9]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter” (cf. Lev 4:6, 17). Contrast “splash” in Lev 1:5, etc. (זָרָק, zaraq).

[5:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the remainder in the blood.” The Heb. preposition “in” (בְּ, bÿ) is used here to mean “some among” a whole collection of something.

[5:10]  ⁹ tn The word “bird” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:10]  ¹⁰ sn The term “[standard] regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishppat) here refers to the set of regulations for burnt offering birds in Lev 1:14-17.

[5:10]  ¹¹ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

[5:10]  ¹² tn See the note on 4:26 with regard to מִן, min.

[5:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[5:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and if his hand does not reach [or is not sufficient] to”; cf. NASB “if his means are insufficient for.” The expression is the same as that in Lev 5:7 above except for the verb: נָשַׂג (nasag, “to collect, to reach, to be sufficient”) is used here, but נָגַע (nagah, “to touch, to reach”) is used in v. 7. Smr has the former in both v. 7 and 11.

[5:11]  ¹⁵ tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above (cf. also 5:7).

[5:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he shall bring his offering which he sinned.” Like the similar expression in v. 7 above (see the note there), this is an abbreviated form of Lev 5:6, “and he shall bring his [penalty for] guilt to the Lord for his sin which he committed.” Here the words “to the Lord for his sin” have been left out, and “his [penalty for] guilt” has been changed to “his offering.”

[5:11]  ¹⁷ sn A tenth of an ephah would be about 2.3 liters, one day’s ration for a single person (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:306). English versions handle the amount somewhat differently, cf. NCV “about two quarts”; TEV “one kilogramme”; CEV “two pounds.”

[5:11]  ¹⁸ tn See the note on Lev 2:1 above.