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For the Community. 13 If the whole community of Israel errs[a] inadvertently and without even being aware of it violates any of the Lord’s prohibitions, and thus are guilty, 14 when the wrong that was committed becomes known, the community shall offer a bull of the herd as a purification offering. They shall bring it before the tent of meeting. 15 The elders of the community shall lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord. When the bull has been slaughtered before the Lord, 16 the anointed priest shall bring some of its blood into the tent of meeting, 17 and dipping his finger in the blood, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, toward the veil. 18 He shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar for burnt offerings which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 19 He shall remove all of its fat and burn it on the altar, 20 doing with this bull just as he did with the other bull of the purification offering; he will do the same thing. Thus the priest shall make atonement(A) on their behalf, that they may be forgiven. 21 This bull shall also be brought outside the camp and burned,(B) just as the first bull. It is a purification offering for the assembly.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:13 Whole community…errs: this case probably complements that of vv. 3–12. There the high priest sins so that the people become guilty. Those verses deal with his requirements for atonement; vv. 13–21 deal with the people’s requirements.