Incurring guilt must be read through the conduct and response the passage names rather than a person's distress alone. Leviticus describes a congregation's unintentional violation becoming known and elsewhere directs return of wrongfully taken property.
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Full entry for אָשַׁם (H816) · Open the biblical lexicon
Incurring guilt must be read through the conduct and response the passage names rather than a person's distress alone. Leviticus describes a congregation's unintentional violation becoming known and elsewhere directs return of wrongfully taken property.
The BSB source-word alignment has 35 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include he is guilty (3), . . . (2), he incurs guilt (2), incur guilt (2), will be condemned (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Leviticus 4:13. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (11), Hosea (5), Ezekiel (4), Psalms (3).
Incurring guilt must be read through the conduct and response the passage names rather than a person's distress alone. Leviticus describes a congregation's unintentional violation becoming known and elsewhere directs return of wrongfully taken property. Proverbs forbids slandering a servant to a master, putting responsibility on the person making the accusation.
Chronicles instructs judges to warn people in actual disputes, while Ezekiel names bloodshed and made idols as the city's guilt. Joel also uses the supplied range for sheep suffering amid ruined pasture, without attributing human moral choices to the animals. These contexts prevent a single label from explaining every kind of suffering. Identify the actual act, evidence and stated repair or warning.
A present teacher should neither declare someone guilty because they are afraid nor use the word to bypass listening, restitution or protection for a person harmed by a false accusation.
Known unintentional violation, returned property, forbidden slander, judges' warnings, named bloodshed and animal suffering supply different contexts. Actual conduct and response distinguish culpability from distress without an automatic guilt diagnosis.
Now if the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly so that they violate any of the Lord’s commandments and incur guilt by doing what is forbidden,
The congregation strays unintentionally and incurs guilt through a forbidden act, with the next verse distinguishing later awareness and the named offering response.
Once he has sinned and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found,
Acknowledged wrongdoing leads to returning stolen or entrusted property, and verse 5 specifies restitution to the owner rather than an admission detached from repair.
Do not slander a servant to his master, or he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.
The warning forbids slandering a servant to a master and names guilt for that action, preserving the vulnerable person's protection rather than assuming the accusation is true.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Guilt inherently carries culpability; the guilty party bears both moral liability and consequent punishment or destruction.
Guilt inherently carries culpability; the guilty party bears both moral liability and consequent punishment or destruction.
to be guilty; by implication to be punished or perish BDB: offend Usage: × certainly, be(-come, made) desolate, destroy, × greatly, be(-come, found, hold) guilty, offend (acknowledge offence), trespass.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 35 lexical occurrence verses.
אָשַׁם is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Repentance requires recognition of covenant guilt.Hosea 5:8-15
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The actual act and the required response must remain visible. Leviticus' congregation case includes unintentional wrongdoing and later awareness, so the range cannot establish that every offense was knowingly plotted. Its property case explicitly requires return and restitution, making the wronged owner part of accountability. Proverbs names slander against a servant as an action to avoid, and Chronicles' judges receive duties within actual disputes rather than unlimited power to invent guilt.
Ezekiel's charge supplies specific bloodshed and idols, whereas Joel's suffering sheep belong to devastation and lack of pasture without human moral acts being assigned to them. Teach guilt seriously where conduct is named and retain repair where required. Do not reverse the reasoning by treating every illness, fear or deprivation as proof of a hidden offense, nor let a leader's confident accusation replace evidence and care for vulnerable people.
Lev.6.4
The licensed Hebrew range includes guilt and related distress or consequence renderings. The selected sentences name forbidden acts and recognition, while Joel describes flocks suffering in devastation. Read the actual subject and context rather than forcing every rendering into the same human moral decision or hidden-cause explanation.
Titus 3:3-5 recalls the speakers' own former disobedience before naming God's kindness and mercy rather than their righteous works as the saving source. Read that Greek confession beside Leviticus' actual wrong and repair without equating every lexical form. Serious wrongdoing and supplied mercy can both remain visible, while neither passage gives a teacher complete knowledge of another person's private guilt or the cause of their current suffering.