It is a guilt offering; they have been guilty of wrongdoing against the Lord. The closing declaration — it is a guilt offering; they have been guilty of wrongdoing against the Lord — is the theological summary of the guilt offering's function. The asham addresses ashmah: the guilt offering addresses guilt. The explicit statement that the wrongdoing was against the Lord grounds the guilt offering in the vertical relationship between the offerer and God, even in cases involving human misappropriation of sacred things. Every violation of the covenant's requirements, however indirect, is ultimately a wrongdoing against the Lord who established those requirements.

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