Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Sin

The pictorial power of the Hebrew language is seldom exhibited more clearly than in connection with the various aspects of evil. Every word is a piece of philosophy; nay, it is a revelation. The observer of human affairs is painfully struck by the wearisomeness of life, and by the amount of toil and travail which the children of men have to undergo to obtain a bare existence; he sees the hollowness, vanity, and unreality of much that seems bright and charming at first; he notes that human nature, in its personal and social aspects, is distorted and out of course; that the chain of love which ought to bind the great family in one has been snapped asunder; that isolation and desolation have taken the place of unity and happiness; that the relationship between man and his Maker has become obscured, and that even when man knows the will of God, there is something in his nature which prompts him to rebel against it; lastly, he comes to the conviction that this state of things is not original, but is opposed to men's best instincts, and frustrates the original design of their creation.

The Hebrew Bible meets us with a full acknowledgment of these manifold aspects of human suffering, and blends wrong-doing and suffering to a remarkable degree, setting forth sin in its relation to God, to society, and to a man's own self, depicting it in its negative aspect as iniquity or unrighteousness, and in its positive aspect as rebellion and a breach of trust.

The word translated sin throughout the O.T., with very rare exceptions, is derived from the word Chatha (חטא ), which originally signifies to miss the mark, and answers to the Greek ἁμαρτάνω notifying the fact that all wrong-doing is a failure or a coming short of that aim which God intended all his children to reach. [The word is used in its original sense in Judges 20:16, where we rend of 'seven hundred chosen men left-handed, every one of whom could sling stones at an hair's breadth, and not miss.'] If man was originally made in the image of God, it must have been implanted in him as a first principle that he should live as God lives. Every departure, therefore, from the law of Right is a coming short of the purpose for which man was made, and a missing of the goal which ought to be reached.

The word usually implies blame-worthiness, and is largely used in confessions, to express a conviction that wrong has been done either towards God or towards man. this wrong is not necessarily wilful, for many sins were committed through negligence or ignorance (see Leviticus 4:2; Leviticus 5:15, Numbers 15:28). sin is not usually regarded in the O.T. as a condition (i.e. sinfulness), but as a definite act, whether of thought, word, or deed. The word was applied not only to moral evil and idolatry, but also to breaches of ceremonial regulations.

The following are the only passages in which other words besides Chatha have been rendered sin by the translators of the A. V in Leviticus 4:13, and Numbers 15:28-29, we find the word Shagah (שׁגה ), to err; in 1 Kings 17:18, Aven (עון ), vanity or iniquity; in Proverbs 10:12; Proverbs 10:19; Proverbs 28:13, Pesha (פשׁע ), rebellion or transgression.

Chatha is occasionally rendered by some other word instead of sin. Thus it is rendered fault in Genesis 41:9, and Exodus 5:16; trespass in 1 Kings 8:31; harm in Leviticus 5:16; blame in Genesis 43:9; Genesis 44:32; offend in Genesis 20:9; Genesis 40:1; 1 Kings 1:21; 2 Kings 18:14; Ecclesiastes 10:4; Isaiah 29:21; and Jeremiah 37:18.

The verb has a peculiar meaning in the Piel or Intensive Voice, as is the case with several other verbs in this Voice it is rendered as follows: - to make reconciliation (2 Chronicles 29:24); to bear loss (Genesis 31:39); to offer for sin (Leviticus passim); to cleanse from sin (Exodus 29:36; Leviticus 14:49; Leviticus 14:52; Ezekiel 43:20; Ezekiel 43:22-23; Ezekiel 45:18); to purge or purify (Leviticus 8:15; Numbers 8:7; Numbers 8:21; Numbers 19:9; Numbers 19:12-13; Numbers 19:17; Numbers 19:19-20; Numbers 31:19-20; Numbers 31:23); also in the familiar words of the Psalm (Psalms 51:7), 'Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean,' and in Job 41:25, where we read of the Leviathan that 'when he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid; by re as on of breakings they purify themselves

The LXX, which is generally very consistent in retaining the rendering ἁμαρτάνω has in some ceremonial passages adopted renderings similar to those now noticed. Thus we find ἐξιλάσκομαι in 2 Chronicles 29:24, Ezekiel 43:22; Ezekiel 45:18; ἁγνίζωNumbers 8:21; Numbers 19:12-13; Numbers 31:19; Numbers 31:23; ἀφαγνίζω in Leviticus 14:49; Leviticus 14:52, Numbers 19:12; Numbers 19:19-20; Numbers 31:20; καθαρίζω in Exodus 29:36, Leviticus 8:15; Leviticus 9:15; ῥαντίζω in Psalms 51:7; ἱλασμός in Ezekiel 44:27 ἐξιλασμόςExodus 30:10, Ezekiel 43:23; Ezekiel 45:19; ἅγνισμα in Numbers 19:19; and ἁγνισμόςNumbers 8:7; Numbers 19:17.