Leviticus 4

1The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: ‘Suppose someone sins unintentionally by doing one of the things that the LORD’s commandments say must not be done. 3If the anointed priest is the one who sins, his sin makes the people guilty as well. For the sin he has committed he is to present to the LORD a young bull without defect, as a sin offering. 4The bull is to be brought before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. The priest is to lay his hand on the bull’s head and slaughter it in the LORD’s presence. 5The anointed priest is to collect some of the bull’s blood and take it inside the tent of meeting. 6With his finger dipped in the blood, the priest is to sprinkle some of it before the LORD seven times, facing the curtain of the sanctuary. 7Next the priest is to apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar of fragrant incense, which stands before the LORD inside the tent of meeting. Whatever is left of the bull’s blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which stands at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8From the bull of the sin offering he is to take off all its fat: the fat that covers the internal organs, all the fat attached to them, 9the two kidneys with the fat on them by the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which he is to remove together with the kidneys, 10just as these are taken off the ox of a peace offering. Then the priest is to turn them into smoke on the altar of burnt offering. 11As for the rest of the bull, its hide and all its meat, its head and its legs, its internal organs and its dung, 12the whole bull, he is to carry out of the camp to a ceremonially clean place, where the ashes are poured out. There he is to burn it in a fire of wood. It must be burned where the ashes are poured out.

13If the whole congregation of Israel goes astray without the assembly being aware of it, and they do something that one of the LORD’s commandments says must not be done, they become guilty. 14Once the sin they committed comes to light, the assembly is to offer a young bull for a sin offering. They are to bring it to the front of the tent of meeting. 15Before the LORD the elders of the congregation are to lay their hands on the head of the bull, and then the bull is to be slaughtered in the LORD’s presence. 16The anointed priest is to carry some of the bull’s blood inside the tent of meeting. 17Dipping his finger in the blood, the priest is to sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, facing the curtain. 18Some of the blood he is to apply to the horns of the altar inside the tent of meeting, the one that stands before the LORD. All that remains he is to pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which stands at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 19He is to remove all its fat and turn it into smoke on the altar. 20He is to deal with this bull exactly as with the first bull for the sin offering. The priest is to make atonement for them in this way, and they will be forgiven. 21He is then to carry the bull out of the camp and burn it there, the same way the first bull was burned. It is the sin offering for the assembly.

22When a leader sins, doing unintentionally what one of the commandments of the LORD his God says must not be done, he becomes guilty. 23Or if he is made aware of the sin he committed, he is to bring a male goat without defect as his offering. 24Laying his hand on the goat’s head, he is to slaughter it before the LORD at the spot where the burnt offering is killed. It is a sin offering. 25With his finger the priest is to apply some of the sin offering’s blood to the horns of the altar of burnt offering. The rest of the blood he is to pour out at the base of the same altar. 26He is to turn all its fat into smoke on the altar, as is done with the fat of a peace offering. Through this the priest is to make atonement for him concerning his sin, and he will be forgiven.

27If anyone among the ordinary people sins unintentionally by doing something that one of the LORD’s commandments says must not be done, they become guilty. 28Or if they are made aware of the sin they committed, they are to bring as their offering a female goat without defect, for the sin they have done. 29The worshiper is to lay a hand on the sin offering’s head and then slaughter the animal where the burnt offerings are killed. 30The priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and dab it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. The remainder of its blood he is to pour out at the altar’s base. 31All its fat is to be removed in the same way as the fat of a peace offering, and the priest is to turn it into smoke on the altar, a soothing aroma to the LORD. When the priest has made atonement for the worshiper in this way, they will be forgiven.

32If the sin offering they bring is a lamb, it must be a female without defect. 33Laying a hand on the head of the sin offering, the worshiper is to slaughter it as a sin offering at the spot where burnt offerings are killed. 34The priest is to put some of the sin offering’s blood on his finger and apply it to the horns of the altar of burnt offering. All the rest of its blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar. 35All its fat is to be removed, just as the fat of a lamb is removed for a peace offering. The priest is then to turn the fat into smoke on the altar, on top of the LORD’s food offerings. So the priest is to make atonement for the sin that person has committed, and they will be forgiven.