Leviticus 4:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
For the Anointed Priest. 3 If it is the anointed priest[a] who thus does wrong and thereby makes the people guilty, he shall offer to the Lord an unblemished bull of the herd as a purification offering for the wrong he committed. 4 Bringing the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the Lord, he shall lay his hand on its head(A) and slaughter it before the Lord. 5 [b]The anointed priest shall then take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the tent of meeting,
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- 4:3 The anointed priest: the chapter presents four cases of inadvertent wrong, arranged in descending order according to the status of the wrongdoer: high priest (vv. 3–12), entire community (vv. 13–21), tribal leader (vv. 22–26), and general populace (vv. 27–35). The higher one’s position, the more deeply the sin affects the sanctuary (vv. 5–7, 17–18 versus vv. 25, 29, 34). See note on 16:6. Purification offering: the Hebrew verb ḥiṭṭē’ means “remove sin, purify” (Lv 8:15; Ez 43:20–23; 45:18–19; cf. Ex 29:36). The offering cleansed the various places to which the blood was applied or the rooms in which it was sprinkled.
- 4:5–7 On the structure of the sanctuary, see Ex 26–27.
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