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with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass [
]? what is
my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?” (Gen. 31:36). It is such passages which
prove that
is not simply a general word for “sin”; since Jacob used two different
words, he probably intended two different nuances. In addition, a full word study shows
basic differences between
and other words rendered “sin.”
For the most part this word represents a sin against God (Lev. 4:14). Men are to
return from “sin,” which is a path, a life-style, or act deviating from that which God has
marked out (1 Kings 8:35). They should depart from “sin” (2 Kings 10:31), be concerned
about it (Ps. 38:18), and confess it (Num. 5:7). The noun first appears in Gen. 4:7, where
Cain is warned that “sin lieth at the door.” This citation may introduce a second nuance
of the word—“sin” in general. Certainly such an emphasis appears in Ps. 25:7, where the
noun represents rebellious sin (usually indicated by
): “Remember not the sins of
my youth, nor my transgressions.…”
In a few passages the term connotes the guilt or condition of sin: “… The cry of
Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and … their sin is very grievous” (Gen. 18:20).
The word means “purification from sin” in two passages: “And thus shalt thou do
unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them …” (Num. 8:7; cf.
19:9).
)
means “sin offering” (135 times). The law of the “sin offering” is recorded
in Lev. 4- 5:13; 6:24-30. This was an offering for some specific “sin” committed
unwittingly, without intending to do it and perhaps even without knowing it at the time
(Lev. 4:2; 5:15).
Also derived from the verb
is the noun
, which occurs 33 times in biblical
Hebrew. This word means “sin” in the sense of missing the mark or the path. This may be
sin against either a man (Gen. 41:9—the first occurrence of the word) or God (Deut.
9:18). Second, it connotes the “guilt” of such an act (Num. 27:3). The psalmist confessed
that his mother was in the condition of sin and guilt (cf. Rom. 5:12) when he was
conceived (Ps. 51:5). Finally, several passages use this word for the idea of “punishment
for sin” (Lev. 20:20).
The noun
, with the form reserved for those who are typified with the
characteristic represented by the root, is used both as an adjective (emphatic) and as a
noun. The word occurs 19 times. Men are described as “sinners” (1 Sam. 15:18) and as
those who are liable to the penalty of an offense (1 Kings 1:21). The first occurrence of
the word is in Gen. 13:13: “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the
Lord exceedingly.”
B. Adjectives.
(
, 7563), “wicked; guilty.” In the typical example of Deut. 25:2, this
word refers to a person “guilty of a crime”: “And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy
to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him … to be beaten.…” A similar reference
appears in Jer. 5:26: “For among my people are found
(
[plural form] men: they lay
wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.”
is used specifically
of murderers in 2 Sam. 4:11: “How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous