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Leviticus 5 · a question people ask

Were these offerings only for sins done by accident?

In the text

The law draws the line in more than one place. Leviticus 4 is for anyone who "sins unintentionally" (Leviticus 4:2), and the rams of this chapter are for sins "unwittingly" (5:15) or "though he didn’t know it" (5:17). Numbers sets the one "who does anything unwittingly" (Numbers 15:29) against "the soul who does anything with a high hand", who "shall be cut off from among his people" (Numbers 15:30). But the next section of Leviticus gives a trespass offering for someone who "deals falsely with his neighbor" and is "swearing to a lie" (Leviticus 6:2-3), and it ends, "he will be forgiven" (Leviticus 6:7). And the witness in 5:1 simply "doesn’t report it", with no word about whether he meant to.

The verses

““Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone sins unintentionally, in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and does any one of them,”
Leviticus 4:2 · World English Bible
““‘If anyone sins, in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he doesn’t report it, then he shall bear his iniquity.”
Leviticus 5:1 · World English Bible
““If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly regarding the LORD’s holy things, then he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation in silver by shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.”
Leviticus 5:15 · World English Bible
““If anyone sins, doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he didn’t know it, he is still guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.”
Leviticus 5:17 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Leviticus 5

Leviticus 5: When he knows of it

Leviticus 5 names wrongs a person might not see: keeping quiet as a witness, touching something unclean, a careless oath. When he knows, he must first "confess that in which he has sinned" (5:5). Then he brings what he can afford: a lamb, two birds, or a tenth of an ephah of flour. For the poorest too, the priest makes atonement, "and he will be forgiven" (5:13).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions