LUX VERITAS

Dictionary entry

חַטָּאת

Chatat

chatát

Sin as missing the mark — the arrow that lands wide of what it should have hit.

Both the Hebrew chatat and the Greek hamartía come from archery: to miss the mark. It is not first a list of prohibitions, it is a life that fails to hit what it was made for. The same Hebrew word also names the sacrifice offered for that failure, tying offence and repair into a single term.

Where it appears

  • Genesis 4:7
  • Romans 3:23
  • Leviticus 4:3