You shall offer from the sacrifice of well-being, as an offering by fire to the LORD, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is around the entrails;
the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the appendage of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys.
Then Aaron’s sons shall turn these into smoke on the altar, with the burnt offering that is on the wood on the fire, as an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.
6 If your offering for a sacrifice of well-being to the LORD is from the flock, male or female, you shall offer one without blemish.
If you present a sheep as your offering, you shall bring it before the LORD
and lay your hand on the head of the offering. It shall be slaughtered before the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar.
You shall present its fat from the sacrifice of well-being, as an offering by fire to the LORD: the whole broad tail, which shall be removed close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that is around the entrails;
the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the appendage of the liver, which you shall remove with the kidneys.
Then the priest shall turn these into smoke on the altar as a food offering by fire to the LORD.
12 If your offering is a goat, you shall bring it before the LORD
and lay your hand on its head; it shall be slaughtered before the tent of meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar.
You shall present as your offering from it, as an offering by fire to the LORD, the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that is around the entrails;
the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the appendage of the liver, which you shall remove with the kidneys.
Then the priest shall turn these into smoke on the altar as a food offering by fire for a pleasing odor.
All fat is the LORD’s.
It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood.
4 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Speak to the people of Israel, saying: When anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them:
3 If it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull of the herd without blemish as a sin offering to the LORD.
He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD and lay his hand on the head of the bull; the bull shall be slaughtered before the LORD.
The anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting.
The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD in front of the curtain of the sanctuary.
The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is in the tent of meeting before the LORD; and the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
He shall remove all the fat from the bull of sin offering: the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is around the entrails;
the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins; and the appendage of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys,
just as these are removed from the ox of the sacrifice of well-being. The priest shall turn them into smoke upon the altar of burnt offering.
But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, as well as its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung—
all the rest of the bull—he shall carry out to a clean place outside the camp, to the ash heap, and shall burn it on a wood fire; at the ash heap it shall be burned.
13 If the whole congregation of Israel errs unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the LORD’s commandments ought not to be done and incur guilt;
when the sin that they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull of the herd for a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting.
The elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the LORD.
The anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting,
and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, in front of the curtain.
He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the LORD in the tent of meeting; and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
He shall remove all its fat and turn it into smoke on the altar.
He shall do with the bull just as is done with the bull of sin offering; he shall do the same with this. The priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.
He shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.
22 When a ruler sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by commandments of the LORD his God ought not to be done and incurs guilt,
once the sin that he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a male goat without blemish.
He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat; it shall be slaughtered at the spot where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the LORD; it is a sin offering.
The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.
All its fat he shall turn into smoke on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of well-being. Thus the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
27 If anyone of the ordinary people among you sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD’s commandments ought not to be done and incurs guilt,
when the sin that you have committed is made known to you, you shall bring a female goat without blemish as your offering, for the sin that you have committed.
You shall lay your hand on the head of the sin offering; and the sin offering shall be slaughtered at the place of the burnt offering.
The priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he shall pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.
He shall remove all its fat, as the fat is removed from the offering of well-being, and the priest shall turn it into smoke on the altar for a pleasing odor to the LORD. Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf, and you shall be forgiven.
FACING OUR SIN SQUARELY
It is not for me to decide whether you should confess your sins to a priest or not . . . but if you do not, you should at least make a list on a piece of paper, and make a serious act of penance about each one of them. There is something about the mere words, you know, provided you avoid two dangers, either of sensational exaggeration—trying to work things up and make melodramatic sins out of small matters—or the opposite danger of slurring things over. It is essential to use the plain simple, old-fashioned words that you would use about anyone else. I mean words like theft, or fornication, or hatred instead of “I did not mean to be dishonest,” or “I was only a boy then,” or “I lost my temper.” I think that this steady facing of what one does know and bringing it before God, without excuses, and seriously asking for Forgiveness and Grace, and resolving as far as in one lies to do better, is the only way in which we can ever begin to know the fatal thing which is always there, and preventing us from becoming perfectly just to our wife or husband, or being a better employer or employee. If this process is gone through, I do not doubt that most of us will come to understand and to share these old words like “contrite,” “miserable” and “intolerable.”
—from “‘Miserable Offenders,’” God in the Dock
