The Ritual of the Sin-offering deserves attention. The offerer brought the victim to the great altar, laid his hand upon it with a confession of the sin and a prayer for its expiation, and then slew it. The priest then dipped his finger in the blood, and in the case of a prince or individual, sprinkled it seven times on the horns of the Brazen Altar (Lev. iv. 7, 18, 30, 34); in that of the High-priest and congregation seven times on the veil before the Ark, and seven times on the horns of the Golden Altar of Incense (Lev. iv. 6, 17, 25); on the great day of Atonement, the High-priest himself sprinkled it seven times on and before the Mercy-seat, and then seven times streaked with it the horns of the Altar of Incense (Lev. xvi. 14, 15, 19); the rest of the blood was poured on the ground before the Brazen Altar. After the sprinkling, the same portions were burnt on the altar, as in the case of the peace-offerings, and in ordinary cases the rest of the victim was eaten by the priest in the court of the Tabernacle with only the males of his family; but any vessels in which the flesh had been boiled were required, if earthenware, to be broken; if metal, to be carefully scoured (Lev. vi. 24–30). But in the case of the more important Sin-offerings, where the blood was sprinkled within the Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, the entire carcase, except the altar-pieces, with the hide, entrails, &c., was conveyed to a clean place without the camp, and there burnt with fire (Lev. iv. 11, 12, 21; xvi. 27). Except when offered for the whole people, or the priests and Levites at their consecration, Sin-offerings were presented as an atonement for sins of _culpable weakness and ignorance, negligence and frailty_, repented of by the unpunished offender, who was thus restored to his place in the commonwealth. They could not be offered for _presumptuous_, or _deliberate_ and _unrepented_ sins, such as wilful murder or adultery, for which the punishment of death was appointed (Num. xv. 30, 31; Deut. xvii. 12; and comp. Heb. x. 26). (b) The _Trespass-_ or _Debt-offering_, on the other hand, though closely connected with the Sin-offering and sometimes offered with it, as in the case of the leper (Lev. xiv. 12), was always offered for some _special act_ of sin, and was regarded in the light of reparation to the Lord for a wrong done to Him. Hence it was presented for sins “in which the offence given, or the debt incurred by the misdeed, admitted of some sort of recompence, which could be actually estimated[92].”