Restitution and a Fifth Part
14 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 15 “If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly regarding Yahweh’s holy things, then he shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh: 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. 16 He shall make restitution for that which he has done wrong regarding the holy thing, and shall add a fifth part to it, and give it to the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and he will be forgiven. 17 “If anyone sins, doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, though he didn’t know it, he is still guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. 18 He shall bring a ram without defect from of the flock, according to your estimation, for a trespass offering, to the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning the thing in which he sinned and didn’t know it, and he will be forgiven. 19 It is a trespass offering. He is certainly guilty before Yahweh.” Leviticus 6 1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “If anyone sins, and commits a trespass against Yahweh, and deals falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or has oppressed his neighbor, 3 or has found that which was lost, and lied about it, and swearing to a lie—in any of these things that a man sins in his actions— 4 then it shall be, if he has sinned, and is guilty, he shall restore that which he took by robbery, or the thing which he has gotten by oppression, or the deposit which was committed to him, or the lost thing which he found, 5 or any thing about which he has sworn falsely: he shall restore it in full, and shall add a fifth part more to it. He shall return it to him to whom it belongs in the day of his being found guilty. 6 He shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation, for a trespass offering, to the priest. 7 The priest shall make atonement for him before Yahweh, and he will be forgiven concerning whatever he does to become guilty.”
Where a wrong can be measured it must be repaid with interest before the offering counts, and the man defrauded is paid first.
The trespass offering differs from the sin offering in one respect: it deals with damage that can be quantified, and it requires the damage to be made good.
The first case concerns Yahweh's holy things Leviticus 5:15 — a man who has used something dedicated, by accident. He brings a ram, and he shall make restitution for that which he has done wrong regarding the holy thing, and shall add a fifth part to it Leviticus 5:16.
The value is repaid, plus twenty per cent. Sacrifice does not substitute for repayment; it accompanies it.
The next case is the sharpest statement in the book about guilt and knowledge: if anyone sins, doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, though he didn't know it, he is still guilty, and shall bear his iniquity Leviticus 5:17.
Ignorance does not dissolve the fact. And the closing sentence refuses every softening: he is certainly guilty before Yahweh Leviticus 5:19. A person may be genuinely unaware and genuinely in the wrong at the same time, which is a proposition modern instinct resists and this book states twice.
Then the section turns to wrongs between people, and it is the most searching legislation in the sacrificial code.
The list is commercial: dealing falsely in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or oppressing a neighbor, or finding lost property and lied about it, and swearing to a lie Leviticus 6:2–3.
Every one of these is a way of taking something while keeping a clean public record. A deposit denied, a bargain misrepresented, a found object kept — these are crimes that leave the offender respectable, and the last of them is committed under oath.
What is remarkable is the opening clause. A man who cheats his neighbor commits a trespass against Yahweh Leviticus 6:2. The offense is filed against God, and the human victim is named second.
And yet the human victim is paid first. He shall restore it in full, and shall add a fifth part more to it. He shall return it to him to whom it belongs in the day of his being found guilty Leviticus 6:5 — and only then, in the next verse, he shall bring his trespass offering Leviticus 6:6.
The order is fixed and it cannot be reversed. The money goes back before the ram goes to the altar, on the same day, and a man who has not repaid his neighbor has nothing to offer God.
settled What this mark means