Chata - Sin (חטא) When an archer misses his target, we say he's "missed the mark", which is exactly the sense of the Hebrew "chata". God has provided man with the target (his Torah, from the word Yarah, "to throw/shoot"), and when man does not hit that target he "misses God's mark." Paul refers directly to this Hebrew concept when he says "for all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory" (Romans 3:23).