Leviticus 5:1
If any one sin, and hear the voice of one swearing, and is a witness either because he himself hath seen, or is privy to it: if he do not utter it, he shall bear his iniquity.
Open Leviticus 5:1 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Si peccaverit anima, et audierit vocem jurantis, testisque fuerit quod aut ipse vidit, aut conscius est : nisi indicaverit, portabit iniquitatem suam.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Ἐὰν δὲ ψυχὴ ἁμάρτῃ καὶ ἀκούσῃ φωνὴν ὁρκισμοῦ, καὶ οὗτος μάρτυς ἢ ἑώρακεν ἢ σύνοιδεν, ἐὰν μὴ ἀπαγγείλῃ, λήμψεται τὴν ἁμαρτίαν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְנֶ֣פֶשׁ כִּֽי תֶחֱטָ֗א וְשָֽׁמְעָה֙ ק֣וֹל אָלָ֔ה וְה֣וּא עֵ֔ד א֥וֹ רָאָ֖ה א֣וֹ יָדָ֑ע אִם ל֥וֹא יַגִּ֖יד וְנָשָׂ֥א עֲוֺנֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Swearing. We are accountable for the sins of others, to which we are accessory, as appears from this and part of the following chapter. No distinction of persons is here noticed. If any one, therefore, be witness to another's promise, confirmed by oath, and, being cited to the bar, refuse to speak, he shall be guilty of sin, and offer the sacrifice proscribed (ver. 6,) for all the preceding cases. Restitution must also be made to the injured person. (Menochius)
But others suppose that no sacrifice was allowed for such an obstinate wretch as when not answered when the judge swore or adjured him. He was liable to be put to death. The associate of the thief fell under the like punishment as the thief himself, when he would not reveal the theft to the judge, Proverbs xxix. 24. Others again understand this swearing to mean blaspheming God. If the hearer do not reprehend him, he shall suffer as his accomplice. (Origen; Philo)
Junius thinks that the neglect of fraternal correction, was to be expiated by the sacrifice prescribed for the sins of ignorance, concerning which Moses is treating. But it seems that the person here mentioned was to die, as the words he shall bear his iniquity, commonly denote, chap. xix. 8.; &c. (Calmet)
When perjury prejudiceth another's cause, we are bound to reveal what we know to the judge, if it can be done so as to avoid scandal. (Worthington)
Not. Hebrew editions read loa, instead of la, both here and in 34 other places; an irregularity unknown in some manuscripts, and to the Samaritan copy. Perhaps it may have been occasioned by lu, "to him," being of the same sound with la. (Kennicott)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Theodoret Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus, The Unconfounded
Orth. Hear the Lord God speaking through the prophet Ezekiel “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” Moreover through the great Moses He saith “If a soul sin, ” And again “It shall come to pass that every soul that will not hear that prophet shall be cut off.” And many other passages of the same kind may be found.