Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;
Trespass against the Lord. This is a wrong or injury done by one man to the property of another and as it is called "a trespass against the Lord," it is implied, in the case supposed, that the offence has been aggravated by prevaricating-by a false oath, or a fraudulent lie in denying it, which is a "trespass" committed against God, who is the sole judge of what is falsely sworn or spoken (Acts 5:3-4).
And that person be guilty - i:e., from the obvious tenor of the passage, conscience-smitten, or brought to a sense and conviction of his evil conduct (see the note at Leviticus 6:4). In that case there must be, first, confession, a penitential acknowledgment of sin; secondly, restitution of the property, or the giving of an equivalent, with the additional fine of a fifth part, both as a compensation to the person defrauded, and as a penalty inflicted on the injurer, to deter others from the commission of similar trespasses (see the note at Exodus 22:1). The difference between the law recorded in that passage and this is, that the one was enacted against flagrant and determined thieves, the other against those whose necessities might have urged them into fraud, and whose consciences were distressed by their sin. This law also supposes the injured party not to be accessible or to be dead, and in that case the compensation due to his representatives was to be paid to the priest, who, as God's deputy, received the required satisfaction.