7 And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the Lord; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.

8 And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off his head from his neck, but shall not divide it asunder:

9 And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar: it is a sin offering.

10 And he shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.

In the last verses we heard how the person making a trespass offering could give a lamb or a young goat, now we hear that two birds were also acceptable if one could not obtain the larger animals. Interestingly, if one went with the birds, each one represented another sub-offering. The first bird would be a sin offering, the second would be a burnt offering.

The sin offering would merely involve taking the life of the animal and wringing out its blood, nothing burned upon the altar. This, of course, represents the person wringing that which is wrong out of their lives, giving up the sin that holds them back. Then, the burnt offering, that is laid on the altar and burned as a gift to the Lord. This represents the commitment of one’s life to God.

With a larger animal, presumably there was enough material to do both of these steps in one. Blood to be sprinkled or smeared and unclean body parts to be discarded, fulfilling the sin offering portion, and good meat to be consumed on the altar, fulfilling the burnt offering portion.

Having both of these offering types as a part of the trespass offering, we see that in the grammar of sacrificial offerings, sin and burnt offerings were fundamental components, individual words that could be combined together to create more advanced sentences of surrender to the Lord.

Sacrifice	Eligible oblation	Steps	Explanation
Trespass offering	Lamb, young goat, two turtledoves, two pigeons		For minor offenses and mistakes
		One bird for a sin offering, one for a burnt offering	Giving up of offense and recommitment to the Lord