The following words are the major words used for sin in the Bible. It would be helpful to read them carefully. (Note: The Greek words are in bold italic letters and the Hebrew words are simply in bold letters.)

The following is taken from The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, p. 573-587.

Hebrew words represented by the Greek word hamartia and its cognates:

Hebrew words represented by the Greek word adikia and its cognates:

Hebrew words represented by the Greek word paraptoma and its cognates:

1. The word 'ashmah in the phrase "according to the sin of the people" in Leviticus 4:3, means "guilt" as a result of unintentional sin. (Also see Amos 8:14) The word 'asham comes from the same root word and means "guilt or sin-offering." It is found in Proverbs 14:9; Isaiah 53:10;and Jeremiah 51:5. (Strong's -- 819, 817)

2. The word shagah in the phrase "sin through ignorance" in Leviticus 4:13 means "to stray, to mislead, to mistake; cause to go astray, deceive, err, be ravished, sin through ignorance, or wander." (Strong's -- 7686)

3. The word avon or awon meaning "perversity, evil, fault, iniquity, mischief, punishment, sin" comes from the word avah meaning "to crook, do amiss, bow down, make crooked, commit iniquity, pervert, do perversely, trouble, turn, do wickedly, do wrong. This word is found in the phrase "to call my sin to remembrance" in I Kings 17:18. (Strong's 5771)

4. The word pesha or pesa meaning "a revolt, rebellion, sin, transgression, trespass" comes from the word pasha meaning "to break away (from just authority), trespass, apostatize, quarrel offend, rebel, revolt, transgress." This word is found in the phrase "of words there wanteth not sin" in Proberbs10:19. (Strong's 6588)

All the words translated "sin" in the New Testament in the KJV are from the Greek word hamartano or one of its derivatives. (Strong's -- 264, 265, 266, 361) Its meaning is "to miss the mark (and not share in the prize), to err, to sin."

Daniel 9 records for us how the prophet Daniel prayed to God and confessed his own sins and the sins of the people. Important phrases from the passage are recorded below. The words indicated with an asterisk are references to sin in his prayer. His prayer is important because it shows us the depth and variety of our sin that we many times tend to ignore.

The following phrases from Daniel 9 refer to the coming of Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note the purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ which will be completed after his second coming.

We know that in the eyes of men Daniel was a righteous man, because those who sought to kill him could not find anything wrong with his life. So they tricked the king into passing a law making it illegal for Daniel to pray to God. We know that in the eyes of God he was righteous because God answered his prayers and gave him supernatural insight into the future. Nevertheless, Daniel included himself in the sins of his people. He did not ignore their sin and think that it was only their problem. He had obviously commited some of those sins, too. He didn't attempt to judge the amount of the sin and therefore excuse himself. He knew that his sin, little thought it might be, and the sins of the people grieved God and he felt the affect of his own personal sin as well as the sins of the people. Yet he was assured of the fact that God was real and viewed and dealt with sin accordingly. He prayed to God and confessed the sin and God answered him.

From this we see that the concept of sin in the Old Testament and the New Testament is the same. It is falling short of God's holy standard whether it is intentional or not. Hata and hamartano are the general words to describe this concept. Many different kinds of sin come under this umbrella. Some sin is committed out of a lack of knowledge and ignorance, others are an obvious attempt to disobey God. Yet all sin comes from being deceived in some way. Not all people who sinned were deceived by ignorance of God's commands. Adam and Eve certainly weren't. They sinned with full knowledge. They were simply distracted from the truth that God had spoken and disobeyed the God that had made them. Some knew what God expected but were deceived into believing that they would not be punished for disobeying God. Others people simply didn't care and rebelled against God. Still others were totally unaware of their sin until after they had sinned.

The book of Leviticus in the Taurat, specifically chapters 1-8, 16 and 17, state that God required blood sacrifice for unintentional and intentional sins in the time of Moses. In light of this information, each person must carefully review his own idea of sin and make sure it is consistent with God's view of sin.

Can we call some sins "simply mistakes"? What really is a mistake? Is it something we do that we know we should not do? How much do we have to know? We know we are weak. Why are we weak? Where does it come from? Do we use the excuse of "lack of knowledge" to cover up our weakness? Is weakness enough to bring God's wrath upon us? The Bible says it is. Yet we all go beyond that.

Before his conversion, the apostle Paul acted ignorantly in unbelief. Yet he confessed that he was the worst sinner. Paul was ignorant not because of what he did not know, but because of his unbelief. His unbelief blinded him. None of us can say, "I did not know what God expects of me." Jesus himself said," You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)(KJV)