Bible Strands
Leviticus 4:24
He is to lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the LORD. It is a sin offering.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Leviticus 4:24 addresses an Israelite who has committed an unintentional sin and brought a male goat as a sin offering. The instruction occurs during the ritual sequence immediately after the sinner presents the animal and before the priest handles its blood.
The words — The text specifies וְסָמַךְ (ve./sa.Makh, "he will lean") and יָדוֹ (ya.D/o, "his hand") to describe the physical act of pressing the hand upon the goat's head (רֹאשׁ, rosh). It also uses וְשָחַט (ve./sha.Chat, "he will slaughter") to denote the cutting of the animal's throat at the designated slaughter site.
The thread — The requirement to slaughter the offering at a specific location before the LORD appears in Leviticus 1:5 and Leviticus 1:11, where priests handle the blood of burnt offerings. The text explicitly notes that this sin offering must be killed at the exact place where the burnt offering is slaughtered.
Why it lands — The verse requires the sinner to perform a tangible act of identification at the altar before the priest applies the blood. It establishes that the sin offering must be killed in the same location as the burnt offering, linking the atonement procedure to a fixed sacred space.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord: it is a sin offering.
Cross-references
- Exodus 29:38 This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old.
- Leviticus 1:5 And he shall slaughter the young bull before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests are to present the blood and splatter it on all sides of the altar at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- Leviticus 1:11 He shall slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests are to splatter its blood against the altar on all sides.
- Leviticus 3:2 He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall splatter the blood on all sides of the altar.
- Leviticus 3:8 He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall splatter its blood on all sides of the altar.
- Leviticus 3:13 He must lay his hand on its head and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall splatter its blood on all sides of the altar.
- Leviticus 4:3 If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
- Leviticus 6:25 “Tell Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before the LORD; it is most holy.
- Leviticus 7:2 The guilt offering must be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and the priest shall splatter its blood on all sides of the altar.
- Leviticus 16:15 Aaron shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the veil, and with its blood he must do as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.