Numbers 5:8, commentary and pictures

If the man wronged has no living kinsman to receive recompense for the trespass, the recompense is made to the LORD, even to the priest. When wrongfully held property cannot be repaid to its owner or to the owner's kinsman, it is to be given to the LORD for the LORD's work, and it is not to be kept by the one holding it. This restitution stands beside and in addition to the ram of the atonement, whereby atonement is made for the offender.

Confession and restitution, including the principal with an added fifth, are required before the individual atonement can be made. Then the trespass offering and the priest's work with its blood provide forgiveness. Atonement in the verse means propitiation, to appease an offended person and to turn away wrath. The wrath turned away is the wrath of God, and the ram of the atonement expresses the same idea as Christ's blood turning away God's wrath, with the trespass recompensed to the LORD, even to the priest.

The setting of the verse teaches God's abhorrence of sin and warns against its destructive course and end. When fraud is involved and the injured parties cannot be found, the verse calls for confession, restitution to God through a gift for the needy of at least the amount withheld plus one-fourth, and a plea for forgiveness with a commitment not to repeat the wrong. The ancient restitution rule applies to withheld tithe: those who knowingly kept back tithe must restore it as far as possible with an added twenty percent, and repentance with beginning to tithe correctly from then on does not erase the obligation to make restitution.