The Vocabulary of the Fall

The Five Words for Sin: The Vocabulary of the Fall

There is a saying that echoes through the pews of many Protestant churches: “There are no small sins or great sins, for all are the same.” For a long time, I accepted that statement without question, like one who sings an old hymn without truly pondering its words. Yet, when we open the Hebrew text of Scripture, the ground begins to shift beneath our feet. We discover that sin is not a uniform block of darkness, nor a single colour painted across the human heart, but a spectrum of shadows, each with its own texture, weight, and consequence. Biblical Hebrew, that concrete and visceral language, refuses to treat sin as an abstraction. It names it precisely. Five particular words rise from the Tanakh like pillars supporting our understanding of the human condition. Each reveals not merely a kind of wrongdoing, but an aspect of the mystery that separates humankind from G-d.

1. רָע (Ra) – The Evil that Corrodes

The first word is Ra, and it appears more than six hundred times, as if the text itself sought to remind us of its omnipresence.

Ra is evil in its raw state. It is the moral chaos that invades the garden, the corruption that spreads silently across the earth. It is not merely an individual act of wrongdoing, but an atmosphere, a contagion.

In Genesis 6:5, we read: “The Lord saw that the wickedness (Ra) of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Perhaps this is the saddest line in human history. Ra does not describe an isolated sin but an entire world sinking into its own decay.

Ra is the inversion of creation. While G-d brings order out of chaos, evil brings chaos back into order. It is the rust of the soul, the poison that turns love into selfishness, compassion into calculation, truth into manipulation. And when Ra reigns, humanity loses its face, for the divine image becomes unrecognisable.

2. חֵטְא (Chet) – Missing the Mark

Then comes Chet, the word of the archer. It literally means “to miss the mark”.

This is the sin that springs not so much from malice as from distraction, weakness, or spiritual short-sightedness. The bow was drawn, the arrow released, but the target, the will of G-d, was lost from sight.

In Leviticus 4:2, the text declares: “When anyone sins unintentionally, in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done.”

There is something deeply human here. Who among us has never stumbled without meaning to? Chet is the sin of those who meant to do right, yet failed. The word reminds us that even unintentional wrongdoing still wounds. A sword cut by accident cuts no less deeply. Divine justice is as realistic as it is merciful; it recognises our intent but does not ignore the damage. Chet is the reminder that to live is to aim, and the soul must be tuned constantly, like the instrument of a musician. A slight deviation, if not corrected, can lead us miles away from the right path.

3. עָוֹן (Avon) – The Iniquity that Distorts

The third word is Avon, and within it we feel the weight of conscience.

The third word is Avon, and within it we feel the weight of conscience.
Avon is not simply to transgress unknowingly; it is to transgress by choice. It is deliberate sin, when the heart knows yet still consents. The word carries the sense of distortion, like a line intentionally bent out of shape.

In Isaiah 53:5, Avon describes the burden borne by the Messiah: “He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities (Avon).”

It is a verse that chills the soul. Here, Avon is not merely guilt; it is a burden to be carried, a debt that cannot be paid with human coin.

While Chet is the sin of carelessness, Avon is the sin of rebellion. It is when the human will crowns itself as king and the heart declares independence from the Creator. And, as with every act of revolt, Avon does not end with the individual; it echoes through generations, shaping families and corrupting cultures. The reverberation of a conscious sin is often longer than its original cause.

4. רֶשַׁע (Resha) – The Injustice that Destroys

Resha is the fourth word, and with it we step into the realm of social injustice.

While Avon speaks of internal corruption, Resha speaks of external corruption – evil that becomes institutional. Resha arises when sin ceases to be merely personal and becomes a system, a structure that oppresses, exploits, and dehumanises.

In Proverbs 15:9, we read: “The Lord detests the way of the wicked (Resha), but He loves those who pursue righteousness.”

Here, sin is relational; it manifests in how we treat others. Resha is the marketplace that profits from suffering, the judge who sells verdicts, the politician who names evil good. It is the kind of sin that wounds not only heaven but also the earth. And perhaps this is the most uncomfortable truth of all: G-d measures our faith not only by what we believe, but by how we live among others.

5. עָוֶל (Avel) – The Perverted Justice

Finally, we come to Avel, a less frequent yet equally piercing word.

Avel is the sin of the courtroom. It is the perversion of justice, the misuse of authority to twist truth. When a judge acquits the guilty and condemns the innocent, Avel is spoken in heaven.

Leviticus 19:15 warns: “Do not pervert justice עָוֶל (Avel); do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.”

It is a verse that ought to be engraved upon the doors of every parliament and courthouse in the world. Avel represents the pinnacle of social corruption, for it destroys the very foundation of human trust. When justice is warped, people lose their sense of good and evil, and wickedness disguises itself as virtue. It is the sin that turns law into a weapon and authority into oppression.

The Vocabulary of the Soul: These five words – Ra, Chet, Avon, Resha, and Avel together form a vocabulary of human downfall.

They reveal that sin is not a single stain but a fabric torn in many places. Sometimes it is the carelessness of one who tries to do right; other times, the cold calculation of one who has stopped trying. Sometimes it is born within the heart; at other times, it crystallises in institutions. In the Hebrew vision, sin is not merely disobedience; it is distortion  of life, of love, of justice, and of the very image of G-d within us. And the most astonishing truth is that for each of these words, there is also a divine response.

For Ra – evil in raw state: there is the goodness that restores.

For Chet – missing the mark: there is the forgiveness that corrects.

For Avon – deliberate sin: the sacrifice that redeems.

For Resha – social injustice: the justice that sets free.

And for Avel – perversion of justice: the Kingdom of G-d, where the Judge is incorruptible and the throne is righteous.

Perhaps this is why Scripture so often urges us to name our sins: for what is named can be confessed, and what is confessed can be healed. In the end, to understand these words is to understand oneself. It is to see that the problem of the world lies not only “out there” but within the human heart. And that the way back, as always, begins with a simple yet difficult word: teshuvah (repentance) or return. For sin, in the end, is not merely the act of turning away from G-d.

It is the forgetting that there is still a way back.

Adivalter Sfalsin