What happens when you cannot afford a lamb? Leviticus 5 introduces one of the most compassionate mechanisms in ancient law—a sliding scale for guilt offerings—and the Targum Jonathan expands it with striking precision.
The chapter opens with four categories of sin requiring a guilt offering: hearing an oath and not testifying, touching something ritually unclean, touching human impurity, or swearing rashly. The Targum adds a crucial detail about oaths: if a person "shall have known that his companion hath sworn or imprecated vainly" and fails to report it, that silence itself becomes a sin. The standard text implies witness responsibility. The Targum makes it explicit.
Then comes the sliding scale. If you can afford a female lamb or kid—bring it. If not, bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons. The Targum specifies "large" turtle doves, a detail absent from the Hebrew. And if even birds are beyond your means, a tenth of three seahs of flour will do—but without oil or frankincense, "for it is a sin offering." The Targum preserves the flour offering's austerity as a reminder that this is about guilt, not celebration.
The second half addresses misuse of sacred property. If someone accidentally benefits from something consecrated to God, they must repay the value plus a fifth. The Targum frames this as "falsifying with falsity"—doubling the language of deception to emphasize severity.
The final section extends to lying, theft, and false oaths in business dealings. The Targum adds "the Word of the Lord" as the one being sinned against—elevating every broken promise between humans into an offense against the divine.