Also: Good News Translation omits this word, but it may be important to include it in the receptor language in order to make clear the two aspects of the ritual.

Make restitution: the idea of restitution in English is perhaps too strong for the Hebrew word found here (compare 6.5). The text does not indicate whether the repayment plus the additional interest should be made in kind or in money.

Shall add a fifth to it: fractions such as this are often difficult to express in some languages. Some have to say something like “one part in five” or “one piece taken from every five pieces.” Good News Translation prefers to convert the fraction into a percentage, and this may be helpful to some translators. The whole phrase may be reworded as follows: “He is obligated to give to the priest all that he owes him and add a fifth (or, twenty percent) more” or “He must pay the priest what he failed to pay and add to it a fine of a fifth (or, twenty percent).”

The priest shall make atonement …: see 4.20.

With the ram of the guilt offering: this detail indicates the means by which the atonement takes place. While it is not found in other instances of the atonement (forgiveness) formula, it emphasizes the necessity of the sacrifice and implies therefore that the repayment with interest is not adequate by itself to accomplish the ritual of forgiveness.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .