“ ‘If anyone sins, in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he doesn’t report it, then he shall bear his iniquity. “ ‘Or if anyone touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean animal, or the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and it is hidden from him, and he is unclean, then he shall be guilty. “ ‘Or if he touches the uncleanness of man, whatever his uncleanness is with which he is unclean, and it is hidden from him; when he knows of it, then he shall be guilty. “ ‘Or if anyone swears rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good—whatever it is that a man might utter rashly with an oath, and it is hidden from him—when he knows of it, then he will be guilty of one of these. It shall be, when he is guilty of one of these, he shall confess that in which he has sinned; and 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. “ ‘If he can’t afford a lamb, then he shall bring his trespass offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to Yahweh; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. He shall bring them to the priest, who shall first offer the one which is for the sin offering. He shall wring off its head from its neck, but shall not sever it completely. He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. He shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the ordinance; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has sinned, and he shall be forgiven. “ ‘But if he can’t afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for that in which he has sinned, one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it, and he shall not put any frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.
To bring a sin offering for certain transgressions when one can afford it, or a lesser offering if poor
The cited verse
The Hebrew (Masoretic Text)
וְהֵבִיא אֶת־אֲשָׁמוֹ לַיהוָה עַל חַטָּאתוֹ אֲשֶׁר חָטָא נְקֵבָה מִן־הַצֹּאן כִּשְׂבָּה אוֹ־שְׂעִירַת עִזִּים לְחַטָּאת
In Maimonides’ words
How Maimonides defines this commandment in his Sefer HaMitzvot — his own words, shown as a primary source.
היא שצונו שנקריב קרבן עולה ויורד על החטאים ידועים ומיוחדים גם כן. והחטאים שיתחייב עליהם זה הקרבן הם טומאת מקדש וקדשיו ושבועת בטוי ושבועת העדות, וזה מי שנטמא באב מאבות הטומאה כמו שהודענו בפתיחת סדר טהרות ונכנס למקדש או אכל קדש בשגגה וזו היא טומאת מקדש וקדשיו. או נשבע על שקר כגון שבועת בטוי ועבר עליה בשגגה. או נשבע לשקר שבועת העדות בין בשוגג בין במזיד. הנה הוא יקריב על אי זה מעשה שעשה מאלו קרבן הנקרא עולה ויורד, והוא אמרו ונפש כי תחטא ושמעה קול אלה ונעלם ממנו והיה כי יאשם והביא את אשמו, או נפש כי תשבע לבטא ונעלם ממנו והיה כי יאשם והביא את אשמו, ואם לא תגיע ידו. ומפני זה הענין נקרא עולה ויורד כי הוא לא יעמוד במין אחד אבל יביא מזה המין פעם ומזה המין פעם הכל לפי השגת יד החוטא שחייב להביא הקרבן. וכבר התבארו משפטי מצוה זו במסכת כריתות ובשבועות. (ויקרא אל משה, שגגות פ"י):
That is that He also commanded us to bring a variable burnt-sacrifice for certain specific sins. And the sins for which one is liable for this sacrifice are impurification of the Temple and its sanctified objects; an oath of speech; and an oath of testimony. And that is one who is impure from one of the primary sources of impurity - as we set out in the introduction to the Order of Purities (Commentary on the Mishnah) - and entered the Temple or ate consecrated [food] inadvertently; and that is impurification of the Temple and its consecrated objects. Or that he swore falsely, as with an oath of speech that he inadvertently transgressed; or if he swore falsely with an oath of testimony - whether inadvertently or volitionally. Behold for any of these actions, he must bring a sacrifice that is called a variable burnt-offering. And that is His saying, "And if a person sin, and hear the voice of adjuration [... Or when a person touches any unclean thing...] and it be hid from him [and he come to know of it, and be guilty]. Or if a person swear, speaking with his lips [...] And it shall be, when he shall be guilty [...]. And he shall bring his guilt offering [...]. But if his means do not suffice" (Leviticus 5:1-7). And for this reason is it called a variable burnt-offering - because it does not remain one type; but rather he will once bring this type, and another time that type. Everything is according to what the means of the sinner, who is obligated to offer the sacrifice, suffice. And the regulations of this commandment have already been explained in Tractate Keritot and in Shevuot. (See Parashat Vayikra; Mishneh Torah, Offerings for Unintentional Transgressions 10.)
Hebrew: Sefer HaMitzvot, Warsaw 1883 (public domain). English: Sefaria Edition, trans. Rabbi Francis Nataf, 2021 (CC0). Via Sefaria; translator’s footnotes omitted.
Literary form: a case law — "if X, then Y"
Applicability
How the catalog describes where and when this commandment applies. These are independent descriptions, not a verdict on which laws still count.
- Requires a standing Temple
Classical halakhic consequences
The consequences the classical halakhah attaches to this commandment, grouped by who imposes them. Where a category has none recorded, that absence is itself meaningful.
Imposed by a court
No court-imposed penalty is recorded.
At the hands of Heaven
No divinely-imposed consequence is recorded.
Ritual remedy
- A sin-offering (ḥatat)
How the streams of Judaism treat this commandment
The streams of Judaism read the same commandment differently — an ongoing plurality, not a ranking. Each position below is reported as the catalog records it; none is presented as the correct one.
- Orthodox Binding, with modification
- Conservative Not binding
- Reform Not binding
- Reconstructionist Not binding
- Karaite Binding, with modification
24 of 613 commandments have been examined in depth so far — this one is queued.
How later traditions received this commandment
How later traditions read or reworked this commandment, each attributed to its own voice. The catalog’s own classification of each reception is shown as it records it, never adopted as GEBible’s.
Rabbinic aggadah
- Leviticus Rabbah 3:5 expanded it homiletically
Philo of Alexandria
- De Specialibus Legibus 1.271 read it allegorically Within Philo's treatment of sacrifices (Spec. 1.226ff.); he addresses the graduated offering and the poor person's meal-offering, reading the concession to the poor as evidence that God weighs intent over material value
Josephus
- Ant. 3.230-232 rationalized it
The New Testament
- Luke 2:24 The catalog describes this reception as: applied Mary brings the poorer two-bird option of the cognate sliding-scale offering (Lev 12:8), attesting the mechanism's practical use in the late Second Temple period
- Hebrews 9:22 reinterpreted it The author of Hebrews generalizes blood-atonement ('without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness'); this is a NT theological move, not a citation of Lev 17:11, and stands in tension with the bloodless flour-chatat permitted at Lev 5:11
Where this commandment meets modern human-rights frameworks
One modern normative lens, attributed to it — not GEBible’s assessment. Each row names the framework it measures against and the catalog’s own classification of the relation.
This framework catalogues tensions; it records agreement in only one of its entries. The near-total tension rate is the shape of the instrument, not a finding.
No tension with the catalogued modern frameworks is recorded here.