Numbers 15:24
וְהָיָה אִם מֵעֵינֵי הָעֵדָה נֶעֶשְׂתָה לִשְׁגָגָה וְעָשׂוּ כָל־הָעֵדָה פַּר בֶּן־בָּקָר אֶחָד לְעֹלָה לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַֽיהוָה וּמִנְחָתוֹ וְנִסְכּוֹ כַּמִּשְׁפָּט וּשְׂעִיר־עִזִּים אֶחָד לְחַטָּֽת׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְהָיָ֗ה אִ֣ם מֵעֵינֵ֣י הָעֵדָה֮ נֶעֶשְׂתָ֣ה לִשְׁגָגָה֒ וְעָשׂ֣וּ כָל־הָעֵדָ֡ה פַּ֣ר בֶּן־בָּקָר֩ אֶחָ֨ד לְעֹלָ֜ה לְרֵ֤יחַ נִיחֹ֙חַ֙ לַֽיהוָ֔ה וּמִנְחָת֥וֹ וְנִסְכּ֖וֹ כַּמִּשְׁפָּ֑ט וּשְׂעִיר־עִזִּ֥ים אֶחָ֖ד לְחַטָּֽת׃
καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς συναγωγῆς γενηθῇ ἀκουσίως, καὶ ποιήσῃ πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ μόσχον ἕνα ἐκ βοῶν ἄμωμον εἰς ὁλοκαύτωμα εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας κυρίῳ, καὶ θυσίαν τούτου καὶ σπονδὴν αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν σύνταξιν, καὶ χίμαρον ἐξ αἰγῶν ἕνα περὶ ἁμαρτίας.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
oblitaque fuerit facere multitudo: offeret vitulum de armento, holocaustum in odorem suavissimum Domino, et sacrificum ejus ac liba, ut cæremoniæ postulant, hircumque pro peccato:
si el error se cometió sin querer y sin que la comunidad se diera cuenta, toda la comunidad deberá ofrecer un becerro como holocausto de aroma agradable a Yehová, junto con su respectiva ofrenda de grano y ofrenda líquida, según el reglamento, y un macho cabrío como ofrenda por el pecado.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Será que, si el pecado fué hecho por yerro con ignorancia de la congregación, toda la congregación ofrecerá un novillo por holocausto, en olor suave á Jehová, con su presente y su libación, conforme á la ley; y un macho cabrío en expiación.
and if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, then the whole congregation is to prepare one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Numbers 15:24 describes the procedure when a sin has been committed by the community without their conscious awareness. It specifies that the congregation must offer a young bull as a burnt offering with its accompanying grain and drink offerings, plus a male goat as a sin offering.
Key words
- 'einei ("[the] eyes of", H5869I) — dual construct form of "eye," here used idiomatically in the phrase "from the eyes of the congregation," meaning something hidden from their sight/awareness.
- ne'esetah ("it was done", H6213A) — niphal (passive) perfect, third person feminine singular, agreeing with the implied feminine subject (the sin/matter); marks the action as done to/upon the community rather than by an agent named.
- shegagah ("inadvertence", H7684) — feminine singular noun, a technical legal term in this chapter distinguishing unintentional wrongdoing from deliberate transgression.
- 'olah ("a burnt offering", H5930A) — feminine singular noun naming the sacrificial category in which the animal is wholly consumed.
- chattat ("a sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun designating the goat's ritual function, distinct from the burnt offering category.
What the text says
The verse opens with the sequential construction vehayah 'im ("and it will be, if"), a formula common in legal/casuistic material that introduces a conditional case within a continuing narrative or legal sequence. The condition itself is built on the idiom me'einei ha'edah ("from the eyes of the congregation"), literally "away from the eyes of the congregation" — an expression indicating that the matter occurred outside the community's perception or notice. The verb ne'esetah is niphal, a passive/reflexive stem, which removes focus from any specific agent and frames the sin as something that "was done" or "happened" to the community collectively, rather than attributing it to an identifiable actor.
The apodosis then shifts to active qal verbs ('asu, "they will offer") describing what "all the congregation" (kol ha'edah) must do in response. The chain of construct nouns — par ben-baqar ("a bull, a young one of cattle"), re'ach nichoach ("an odor of soothing") — builds a dense sacrificial formula specifying species, category ('olah), and effect (a "soothing odor" for Yehovah). The phrase lachatat marks the goat's offering as belonging to the chattat category, formally distinguishing it from the burnt offering just described, even though both address the same case of inadvertent communal wrongdoing.
Differences between versions
The LXX adds the qualifier ἄμωμον ("unblemished") describing the bull, a specification not present in the Hebrew text provided here. The Vulgate renders the opening condition as "oblitaque fuerit facere multitudo" ("and the multitude has forgotten to do [it]"), framing the case in terms of forgetting rather than the Hebrew idiom of something occurring "from the eyes of" (unnoticed by) the congregation — a shift in the underlying image from concealment/non-perception to lapse of memory.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.