Numbers 15:27

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

If one person sin unwittingly, then he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin-offering.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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בִשְׁגָגָ֑ה

shᵉgâgâh

H7684

“in/at · sin”

Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 19× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Leviticus 4:2

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7683

TWOT: 2324a

sin, sin of error or inadvertence, inadvertent sin - error

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
10: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is בִשְׁגָגָ֑ה sin H7684 — appearing just 19 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בִשְׁגָגָ֑ה sin H7684 occurs in 18 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
6 nouns
1 adjective
1 conjunction

Verb forms

תֶּחֱטָ֣א Qal · Imperfect
וְהִקְרִ֛יבָה Hiphil · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 18 words from the Hebrew and 18 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 12 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 15:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 4:27–28 "'If anyone of the common people sins unwittingly, in doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and is guilty;
Acts 3:17 "Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
Acts 17:30 The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
1 Timothy 1:13 although I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 15:27 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאִם נֶ֥פֶשׁ אַחַ֖ת תֶּחֱטָ֣א בִשְׁגָגָ֑ה וְהִקְרִ֛יבָה עֵ֥ז בַּת שְׁנָתָ֖הּ לְחַטָּֽאת

If one person sin unwittingly, then he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin-offering.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 15:27 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐάν δέ ψυχή εἷς ἁμαρτάνω ἀκουσίως προςἄγω αἴξ εἷς ἐνιαύσιος περί ἁμαρτία

And if one soul sin unwillingly, he shall bring one she-goat of a year old for a sin-offering.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאִם אֱנַשׁ חַד יֵחוֹב בְּשָׁלוּ וִיקָרֵב עִזָא בַּת שַׁתַּהּ לְחַטָאתָא

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאִין בַּר נְשָׁא חַד יֵיחוֹב בְּשָׁלוּ וְיִקְרַב גַדְיָיתָא בַּר שַׁתָּא דְלָא עֵירוּבִין לְחַטָאתָא

And if any one man sin through ignorance, let him bring one goat of the year without mixture for a sin offering,

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 15:27 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

if any soul sin through ignorance--not only in common with the general body of the people, but his personal sins were to be expiated in the same manner.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) And if any soul sin through ignorance.—There is no restriction here, as in Lev_4:27, to sins of commission.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

27. The offering is a she-goat of one year old for a sin-offering.

27–29. Errors of an individual.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And the priest shall make atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly,.... By offering his sin offering for him:

when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord; to whom it is known to be such, before whom all things are naked, open, and well known:

to make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him; upon that atonement made by sacrifice; so the forgiveness of the sins of all the Lord's people proceeds upon an atonement made by the blood and sacrifice of Christ: full atonement of sin and free forgiveness are not contrary to each other.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

27-29. If any soul sin — The law laid down in Lev_4:27; Lev_5:6, is here repeated, and extended to proselytes or strangers. See Num_15:14, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And if any soul sin through ignorance. No doubt by way of omission, as in the preceding case, and thus this regulation will be distinguished from that in Lev_4:27. In either case the ritual is apparently intended to be the same, although not so fully described here. In verse 29 the benefit of the ordinance is extended to strangers; this was natural in a law which directly contemplates the residence of Israel in their permanent home.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

a female goat a year old

"a 1-year-old female goat"

That person will be forgiven when atonement has been made

This can be stated in active form. AT: "I will forgive that person when the priest has made atonement" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

year

Yahweh

law, laws

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

תחטא בשגגה [AND IF ANY SOUL (i.e. any individual)] SIN THROUGH ERROR, by committing idolatry,

עז בת שנתה [HE SHALL BRING] A SHE GOAT OF ONE YEAR [FOR A SIN OFFERING] — For other sins committed in error an individual may bring either a she-lamb or a she-goat as a sin-offering, whilst in the case of this (the sin of idolatry) Scripture has appointed a she-goat for it (Sifrei Bamidbar 112:1).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is shᵉgâgâh (“sin”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word shᵉgâgâh carries the sense “sin.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Leviticus 4:2, which shares the word «sin», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«תֶּחֱטָ֣א» is a Qal Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Jamieson, Fausset & Brown and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 18 words in this verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.