What is "sin offering"

Sin \Sin\, n. [OE. sinne, AS. synn, syn; akin to D. zonde, OS. sundia, OHG. sunta, G. s["u]nde, Icel., Dan. & Sw. synd, L. sons, sontis, guilty, perhaps originally from the p. pr. of the verb signifying, to be, and meaning, the one who it is. Cf. Authentic, Sooth.]

1. Transgression of the law of God; disobedience of the divine command; any violation of God's will, either in purpose or conduct; moral deficiency in the character; iniquity; as, sins of omission and sins of commission.

   Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
   --John viii. 34.

   Sin is the transgression of the law.
   --1 John iii. 4.

   I think 't no sin. To cozen him that would unjustly win.
   --Shak.

   Enthralled By sin to foul, exorbitant desires.
   --Milton.

2. An offense, in general; a violation of propriety; a misdemeanor; as, a sin against good manners.

   I grant that poetry's a crying sin.
   --Pope.

3. A sin offering; a sacrifice for sin.

   He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.
   --2 Cor. v. 21.

4. An embodiment of sin; a very wicked person. [R.]

   Thy ambition, Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land Of noble Buckingham.
   --Shak.

   Note: Sin is used in the formation of some compound words of obvious signification; as, sin-born; sin-bred, sin-oppressed, sin-polluted, and the like.

   Actual sin, Canonical sins, Original sin, Venial sin. See under Actual, Canonical, etc.

   Deadly sins, or Mortal sins (R. C. Ch.), willful and deliberate transgressions, which take away divine grace; -- in distinction from vental sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth.

   Sin eater, a man who (according to a former practice in England) for a small gratuity ate a piece of bread laid on the chest of a dead person, whereby he was supposed to have taken the sins of the dead person upon himself.

   Sin offering, a sacrifice for sin; something offered as an expiation for sin.

   Syn: Iniquity; wickedness; wrong. See Crime.

A sin offering ( korban khatta'at, lit: "purification offering") is a sacrificial offering described and commanded in the Torah (Lev. 4.1-35). This offered sacrifice accompanied the important required core means of atonement for the committing of an unintentional transgression of a prohibition, that either has brought guilt upon the 'community of Israel' or the individual. This offering is brought during or after atonement for those transgressions that had been committed inadvertently, or in ignorance: intentional transgressions could only be absolved by other forms of atonement, or in severe cases kareth. It was distinct from the biblical guilt offering.