‘But if he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without defect.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without defect.
- KJV And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.
- BSB If, however, he brings a lamb as a sin offering, he must bring an unblemished female.
- NKJV ‘If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish.
- NLT “If the people bring a sheep as their sin offering, it must be a female with no defects.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A worshiper may instead bring a lamb as his sin offering, also female and without defect. God graciously allows alternatives suited to the offerer.
Overview
The law permits a lamb in place of a goat, showing flexibility while maintaining the standard of an unblemished animal. Such provision keeps atonement accessible to those with differing means and flocks. The spotless lamb especially anticipates 'the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world' (John 1:29).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Lev 4:28if his sin, which he has sinned, is made known to him, then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without defect, for his sin which he has sinned.
- 1 Pet 3:18Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
- 1 Pet 2:22who did not sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
- John 1:29The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
- Rev 5:8–9Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
- 1 Pet 2:24who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
- Exod 12:5Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:
- Heb 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
- 1 Pet 1:18–20knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,
- Luke 1:35The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.
- Heb 7:26For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- Lev 5:6and he shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh for his sin which he has sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.
- Eph 5:27that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect.
- Lev 3:6–7“‘If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh is from the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without defect.
- John 1:36and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
- Isa 53:7He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
- Exod 12:3Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household;
- Rev 5:6I saw in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
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Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 4:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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