# H2403 - chattath **Strong's:** [H2403](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2403/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** khat-tawth' **Part of speech:** feminine noun (from the verbal root H2398 *chataʾ*, "to miss the mark / sin") **Frequency:** ~290 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible, heavily concentrated in Leviticus, Numbers, the priestly material, the prophets, and Psalms. **LXX equivalents:** ἁμαρτία (*hamartia*), direct correspondent. See [G0266 - hamartia](/codex/g0266-hamartia/). **Triad companions:** [H6588 - pesha](/codex/h6588-pesha/) (transgression / rebellion) and [H5771 - avon](/codex/h5771-avon/) (iniquity / guilt). Together these three are the principal Hebrew sin-vocabulary. ## Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs) 1. **Sin / sinful act**, the primary lexical sense; from the verbal root *chataʾ* meaning "to miss the mark / fall short / fail to attain a target." This metaphor underlies the whole word: sin as *missing*, a target the agent should have hit. 2. **Sin-offering**, the technical-cultic sense; the sacrificial offering provided by the Levitical system specifically to deal with *chattath*-type sin. [Lev 4:1-5](/codex/leviticus-4-1-5/):13; [Lev 6:24-30](/codex/leviticus-6-24-30/); [Num 15:22-29](/codex/numbers-15-22-29/). 3. **Penalty / consequence of sin**, by metonymy, the punishment that attends the sin-act. [Lev 24:15](/codex/leviticus-24-15/). 4. **Guilt / standing-condition of having sinned**, the condition rather than the act. ## Theological force, sin as failure-to-attain, plus the sacrifice-of-the-same-name *Chattath* is the most-frequent of the three principal Hebrew sin-words and the most general. Its distinctive contributions to the OT hamartiology: **The "missing the mark" metaphor.** The verbal root *chataʾ* means "to miss", used non-religiously of slingers in [Judges 20:16](/codex/judges-20-16/) ("seven hundred chosen men, left-handed, every one of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not *miss*, *yachatiʾ*"). The metaphor is precise: every moral life has *targets* (the standards God has set), and *chattath* names the act of *not hitting* them. Whether through ignorance, weakness, distraction, or deliberation, the act-or-state of *not attaining* the standard is *chattath*. **The sin-triad, distinct contributions.** The three principal Hebrew sin-words emphasize different aspects: | Word | Metaphor | Emphasis | |---|---|---| | **[H6588 - pesha](/codex/h6588-pesha/)** (rebellion) | Political-treason | *Willful breach* of relationship | | **[H5771 - avon](/codex/h5771-avon/)** (iniquity) | Twisted-crookedness | *Perverted state* of moral faculties | | **H2403 *chattath*** (sin) | Missing the mark | *Failure to attain* the standard | The triad covers the full range of moral failure: deliberate-rebellion (pesha), distorted-character (avon), and missed-standard (chattath). All three appear in the Day of Atonement liturgy ([Lev 16:21](/codex/leviticus-16-21/)) where the high priest confesses "all the *avonot* of the sons of Israel and all their *peshaʿim* in regard to all their *chattaʾoth*", the threefold confession aiming to leave *no sin-category unaddressed*. **The technical sin-offering.** Uniquely among the sin-vocabulary, *chattath* is *also* the technical name of the Levitical sacrifice provided to deal with sin, *the sin-offering* ([Lev 4:1-5](/codex/leviticus-4-1-5/):13). The same Hebrew word names *both* the sin and the offering that addresses it, capturing the substitutionary logic: the offering *becomes* the sin (cf. [2 Cor 5:21](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/), "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf", Paul's use of *hamartia* for both Christ's status and the substitutionary outcome). The *chattath*-sacrifice protocol ([Lev 4](/codex/leviticus-4/)): - The offerer lays his hand on the head of the offering, identifying with it. - The animal is slaughtered; its blood is applied to the altar. - The blood makes atonement (*kipper*, see [H3722 - kaphar](/codex/h3722-kaphar/)). - The offerer is forgiven. The pattern grounds the NT's atonement-theology: Christ's death is the once-for-all *chattath*-offering ([Heb 9](/codex/hebrews-9/)-10; cf. [Rom 8:3](/codex/romans-8-3/), "God... sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin (*peri hamartias*) condemned sin in the flesh"; Greek *peri hamartias* in LXX is the technical sin-offering term). ## Notable verses ### The verbal root and missing-the-mark - **[Genesis 4:7](/codex/genesis-4-7/)**, "if you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? But if you do not do well, *chattath* crouches at the door" - **[Judges 20:16](/codex/judges-20-16/)**, slingers "would not *miss* (*yachatiʾ*)" - **[Proverbs 19:2](/codex/proverbs-19-2/)**, "he who hurries his steps *errs / misses (*choteʾ*)*" ### The Levitical sin-offering - **[Leviticus 4:1-5](/codex/leviticus-4-1-5/):13**, the *chattath*-offering protocol; for sins of inadvertence - **[Leviticus 5:6](/codex/leviticus-5-6/), [7](/codex/leviticus-5-7/), [9](/codex/leviticus-5-9/), [11](/codex/leviticus-5-11/), [12](/codex/leviticus-5-12/)**, *chattath* designating both the sin and the offering - **[Leviticus 6:25-30](/codex/leviticus-6-25-30/)**, special priestly provisions for the *chattath* - **[Leviticus 16:1-34](/codex/leviticus-16-1-34/)**, Day of Atonement; the goat-as-*chattath* - **[Numbers 15:22-31](/codex/numbers-15-22-31/)**, distinction between sins of inadvertence (covered by *chattath*) and high-handed *peshaʿ* (not covered) ### The mercy-formula and triad - **[Exodus 34:6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/)**, "forgiving *avon* and *peshaʿ* and *chattath*" - **[Numbers 14:18](/codex/numbers-14-18/)**, formula repeated - **[Leviticus 16:21](/codex/leviticus-16-21/)**, Day of Atonement threefold confession - **[Daniel 9:24](/codex/daniel-9-24/)**, "to make an end of *chattath* and to atone for *avon*", eschatological resolution ### Sin's destructive power (esp. Cain narrative) - **[Genesis 4:7](/codex/genesis-4-7/)**, "*chattath* crouches at the door; its desire is for you, but you must rule over it" ### Prophetic use - **[Isaiah 53:10](/codex/isaiah-53-10/)**, "His soul makes a guilt-offering (*asham*)... He will see His seed... bear their *avonot*" (the Servant's substitutionary work; *chattath*-system context) - **[Isaiah 53:12](/codex/isaiah-53-12/)**, "He poured out Himself to death... bore the sin (*chetʾ*) of many" - **[Jeremiah 31:34](/codex/jeremiah-31-34/)**, "I will forgive their *avon*, and their *chattath* I will remember no more", New Covenant promise - **[Ezekiel 18](/codex/ezekiel-18/)**, distributed responsibility for *chattath* ### Psalms, confession - **[Psalms 32.5](/codex/psalms-32-5/)**, "I acknowledged my *chattaʾah* to You, and my *avon* I did not hide" - **[Psalms 51:2-5](/codex/psalms-51-2-5/)**, "wash me thoroughly from my *avon*, and cleanse me from my *chattath*" ### NT activation via *hamartia* - **[Romans 8:3](/codex/romans-8-3/)**, "God... sending His own Son... and *peri hamartias* (as an offering for sin) condemned sin in the flesh", the LXX *chattath*-offering language applied to Christ - **[2 Corinthians 5.21](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/)**, "He made Him who knew no sin (*hamartia*) to be sin (*hamartia*) on our behalf", the dual-meaning of *chattath* (sin / sin-offering) carried into Greek - **[Hebrews 9:28](/codex/hebrews-9-28/); [Hebrews 10:12](/codex/hebrews-10-12/)**, Christ's once-for-all sin-offering - **[Hebrews 13:11](/codex/hebrews-13-11/)**, "the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place... are burned outside the camp", direct *chattath*-protocol reference ([Lev 16:27](/codex/leviticus-16-27/)) ## Patristic / scholarly note The Levitical *chattath*-system has been the central interpretive frame for understanding NT atonement-theology in patristic and Reformation traditions. **Augustine** (*Contra Faustum* 22.17, "the death of Christ is the *chattath* of sinners"), develops the Pauline *peri hamartias* into a full theology of substitutionary sin-offering. **Anselm** (*Cur Deus Homo*), the satisfaction-theology builds on the *chattath*-system as the framework against which Christ's death is the consummating reality. In modern scholarship, **Jacob Milgrom** (*[Leviticus 1](/codex/leviticus-1/)-16* AB, 1991; *[Leviticus 17](/codex/leviticus-17/)-22*; *[Leviticus 23](/codex/leviticus-23/)-27*) is the magisterial Jewish-Hebraist treatment of the *chattath* system; he argues the offering primarily *purges* impurity from the sanctuary rather than *forgiving* the sinner, a *cult-system* purpose more than an individual-forgiveness purpose. Christian engagement (Gordon Wenham, *The Book of Leviticus* NICOT, 1979; Roy Gane, *Cult and Character*, 2005) develops Milgrom's insights while maintaining the connection to NT atonement-theology. The dual-meaning of *chattath* (sin / sin-offering) is the crucial linguistic-conceptual bridge from OT to NT atonement. Paul's apparent paradox in [2 Cor 5:21](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/), "He made Him to be *hamartia*", dissolves once the OT *chattath* dual-sense is understood: Christ is *made hamartia* in the technical-Levitical sense, *the sin-offering*. The translation "He made Him to be a sin-offering on our behalf" is a defensible rendering preserving the OT-Hebrew background. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Anchors: [Genesis 4:7](/codex/genesis-4-7/) (the first occurrence; *chattath* personified as a crouching predator), [Leviticus 16](/codex/leviticus-16/) (Day of Atonement), [Exodus 34.6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/) (mercy formula), [Daniel 9.24](/codex/daniel-9-24/) (eschatological resolution), [2 Corinthians 5.21](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/) (NT activation), [Romans 8:3](/codex/romans-8-3/) (the *peri hamartias* technical term). ## See also - [H6588 - pesha](/codex/h6588-pesha/), *peshaʿ* (transgression / rebellion), companion in the sin-triad - [H5771 - avon](/codex/h5771-avon/), *avon* (iniquity / guilt), companion in the sin-triad - [G0266 - hamartia](/codex/g0266-hamartia/), *hamartia* (sin), Greek correspondent - [H3722 - kaphar](/codex/h3722-kaphar/), *kaphar* (to atone / cover), what *chattath* requires - [H1818 - dam](/codex/h1818-dam/), *dam* (blood), the *chattath*-offering's medium - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), the doctrine grounded in the *chattath*-system - Passages: [Genesis 4:7](/codex/genesis-4-7/), [Leviticus 4](/codex/leviticus-4/), [Leviticus 16](/codex/leviticus-16/), [Daniel 9.24](/codex/daniel-9-24/), [2 Corinthians 5.21](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/), [Romans 8:3](/codex/romans-8-3/)