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