What Does Numbers 15:27 Mean in the King James?
And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.
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
Even an unwitting miss is still named a miss, and its offering carries that same root.
THE MEANING
A living soul can miss the mark without knowing it. The absence of intent does not make the miss vanish; the verse names a specific response: bringing a year-old female goat as an offering for the missing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what you do unknowingly leaves no real mark. Lack of intent changes the kind of miss; it does not erase the miss or its consequence.
THE ROOT
חַטָּאת
chatta’t
GROWS FROM
חטא
To miss or fail.
“sin offering” in this verse is chatta’t. The offering and the miss share a root: Hebrew holds the failure and the offering that answers it in the same word-family. The verse keeps the miss in view as something that can be met, rather than hidden or erased.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss or fail.
חָטָא
This is the verb behind “sin”: the act is named as a miss.
chet: A miss or fault.
חֵטְא
This noun makes the shared root visible: the offering is named in relation to the miss it addresses.
בִּשְׁגָגָה
bishgagah
GROWS FROM
שגג
To err unintentionally.
“through ignorance” in this verse is bishgagah. This word names an error made without intent. The verse distinguishes intention from result: ignorance changes the character of the miss without making it disappear.
ALSO GROWS
shagag: To err unintentionally.
שָׁגַג
The verb names the kind of missing described here: an error without deliberate intent.
shogeg: One who errs unintentionally.
שׁוֹגֵג
This branch names the person in the condition the verse describes.
THE PATTERN
What is missed without intent is still named and met with a concrete response.
And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty;Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.THE THREAD
And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.Both verses use forms of חטא (chata, to miss) while naming a lack of awareness. Numbers pairs the unwitting miss with a specific offering; Leviticus makes clear that not knowing does not make the miss unreal.
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