Lexical Definition

‎אָשָׁם‎ ʼâshâm (aw-shawm') guilt (offering) ^H:N-M
from ‎אָשַׁם‎

guiltiness, (offering for) sin, trespass (offering).

• guilt
• by implication, a fault
• also a sin-offering

1) guilt, offense, guiltiness
1a) offense, trespass, fault
1b) guilt, guiltiness
1c) compensation (for offense)
1d) trespass offering, guilt offering

See Greek: ἄγνοια · ἀδικία · ἁμαρτία · βάσανος · καθαρισμός

Brown-Driver-Briggs

‎אָשָׁם‎ noun masculine offence, guilt — ‎׳‎‎א‎ Gen 26:10 + 37 t., suffix ‎אֲשָׁמוֺ‎ Num 5:7 + 7 t.; —

1. offence, trespass, fault Ps 68:22* (guiltiness RV).

2. guilt Gen 26:10 (J) Prov 14:9; Jer 51:5.

3. compensation, ‎לְהָשִׁיב הָאָשָׁם אֵלָיו‎ to whom to return the compensation (or satisfaction for injury) Num 5:7; Num 5:8 (P; restitution for guilt RV).

4. trespass-offering (AV, but guilt-offering RV) used only in Lev 5; Lev 6:10*; Lev 7:1; Lev 14:1; Lev 19:21; Lev 19:22; Lev 6:12*; Lev 18:9 (P), & Ezek 40:39; Ezek 42:13; Ezek 44:29; Ezek 46:20, compare Ezra 10:19. This offering seems to have been confined to offences against God or man that could be estimated and so covered by compensation. The ordinary trespass-offering was a ram, together with restitution and a penalty of a fifth of its value. The trespass-offerings of the leper and Nazirite were he-lambs Lev 14; Num 6:12 if the person who suffered wrong or his kinsmen were not living the fine went to the priests. The victims were offered, the blood and fat pieces going to the altar, the skin and flesh to the priests. There seems to have been no application of the blood to the horns of the altar (the chief ceremony of the sin-offering) because the guilt was not expiated at the altar but by compensation to the wronged person or his representative. A part of the blood of the leper's trespass-offering was applied to his person to consecrate him (as in the case of the ram of consecration to consecrate the priests Lev 8:23). The trespass-offering is unknown to J E D and the older Hebrew literature. However, the Philistines send an ‎אשׁם‎ of golden mice and tumours 1Sam 6:3; 1Sam 6:4; 1Sam 6:8; 1Sam 6:17, and an ‎אשׁם‎ of money was given to the priests 2Kgs 12:17*, but these are entirely different from the trespass-offering of P. The Messianic servant offers himself as an ‎אשׁם‎ in compensation for the sins of the people, interposing for them as their substitute Isa 53:10 (incorrectly, sin-offering AV RV). See further Oehler^{OT Theol. § 137} Di Lev 5:14.

Brown-Driver-Briggs References