The ʾāšām bûr (אשׁם בור)

The Masoretic text of Leviticus 5:18b appears to contain two different traditions of reading. One is reflected by a syntactic break via the pausal form שָׁגָ֛ג [ šāgāg ] 'he sinned unintentially'. The other is reflected by a break after לֹֽא־יָדַ֖ע 'he did not know' via the Tiberian Masoretic accents. The interpretation of the reading reflected by the pausal form is well accounted for within traditional rabbinic literature. According to it, this verse requires an offering called the ʾāšām tālûy (אָשָׁם תָּלוּי) 'Suspended Guilt Offering'. The interpretation of the reading reflected by the accents, however, has not yet been clarified or identified with any particular tradition. The commentaries of the early-medieval Karaites reflect an interpretation based on a division similar to that of the accents and therefore offer one possible way to understand that division

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