What Does Leviticus 5:18 Mean in the King James?
And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
A miss can be unseen and still matter, yet the verse gives it a covering that ends in release.
THE MEANING
An error you do not yet recognize can still matter; not knowing does not make it disappear. Yet it is not beyond pardon: a valued ram is brought, the priest makes covering for the hidden miss, and release follows.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that what you did not know cannot matter; the verse gives an unintentional miss real weight and a real path to pardon.
THE ROOT
וְכִפֶּר
wə-khipper
GROWS FROM
כפר
Cover, cover over.
The root gives atonement the image of covering what has been missed. That covering reaches even an error the person did not know was there, and the verse ends in pardon, release without pretending the miss never happened.
ALSO GROWS
kippur: Covering; the act of atoning.
כִּפּוּר
This related form makes the covering image within the priest’s act visible.
kapporet: The cover of the Ark.
כַּפֹּרֶת
The same root also names a physical cover, giving the verse’s atonement language a concrete shape.
שִׁגְגָתוֹ
shigegato
GROWS FROM
שגג
Err inadvertently, without awareness.
“ignorance / erred without knowing” in this verse is shigegato. This root names an error made without awareness, not a deliberate choice. Ignorance does not cancel the miss; the verse brings even this unseen error into a path of covering and pardon.
ALSO GROWS
shegagah: An error committed unintentionally.
שְׁגָגָה
It names the kind of error the offering addresses.
shogeg: A person who errs without intending to.
שׁוֹגֵג
This branch centers the gap between the person’s action and awareness.
וְנִסְלַח לוֹ
wə-nislach lo
GROWS FROM
סלח
Pardon, forgive.
“forgiven” in this verse is wə-nislach lo. The passive form says that pardon comes to the person after the priest makes covering. Release follows the naming of the error; it does not pretend the error never occurred.
ALSO GROWS
salach: To forgive or pardon.
סָלַח
This verb names the release promised at the end of the verse.
selichah: Pardon; forgiveness.
סְלִיחָה
The related noun makes the verse’s final movement a release from the charge.
THE PATTERN
An error hidden from awareness can still be brought forward, covered, and released.
And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:THE THREAD
And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.Leviticus 4:26 uses the same כפר (kaphar, cover) for the priest’s act, then says the person is forgiven. It makes the sequence visible: covering meets the error, and release follows, even here, where the person did not know the error was there.
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