What Does Exodus 24:5 Mean?
And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who made the burnt offerings rise, and slaughtered oxen as wholeness offerings to the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.THE KEY
The offering carries the seed of wholeness, so the verse brings more than quiet before the LORD.
THE MEANING
The verse holds ascent and wholeness together: the burnt offerings rise, while the peace offerings carry the language of completeness. Both take tangible form in oxen brought to the LORD, so devotion here has visible, costly form.
THE ROOT
שְׁלָמִים
shelamim
GROWS FROM
שלם
To be whole or complete; to make whole.
“wholeness offerings” in this verse is shelamim. Behind “peace offerings” is שלם (sh-l-m), meaning “to be whole or complete.” The related word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) carries the sense of wholeness, opening the offering’s name beyond quiet into the language of completeness brought before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being
שָׁלוֹם
This familiar branch makes the offering’s link to wholeness visible: its name carries more than an absence of conflict.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch states the root’s core sense directly, showing completeness inside the name of the offering.
עֹלוֹת
ʿolot
GROWS FROM
עלה
To go up, rise, ascend.
“burnt offerings” in this verse is ʿolot. The offerings’ Hebrew name comes from עלה (ʿ-l-h), “to ascend.” The verse’s word for “offered” comes from this same root, so the upward motion is present in both the action and the offering’s name.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: To go up, ascend
עָלָה
The verb used for offering the burnt offerings comes from this root, keeping ascent inside the action.
aliyah: Ascent, going up
עֲלִיָּה
This related word makes the upward movement plain, showing what the English phrase “burnt offering” can leave implicit.
וַיִּשְׁלַח
wayyishlaḥ
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send out or send forth; also to release or let go.
“sent” in this verse is wayyishlaḥ. The verb comes from שלח (sh-l-ḥ), whose range includes sending forth and releasing. The verse begins with outward movement: Moses sends the young men, and they carry the offering into action.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: Sending away, release
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch makes the release sense audible in “sent”: something is sent forth from its place.
Shiloach: Sent forth; the name of sent waters
שִׁלֹחַ
This branch preserves the same root in the image of water sent forth, echoing the outward motion of the verse’s opening verb.
THE PATTERN
Wholeness is brought into relation with God through offering and reconciliation.
If his drawing near is a wholeness offering from the herd, male or female, he brings it near whole before the LORD.But he was pierced for our rebellion, and crushed for our crookedness. The straightening that made us whole was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.And, having made wholeness through the blood of his cross, through him to bring all things back to himself, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.THE THREAD
But he was pierced for our rebellion, and crushed for our crookedness. The straightening that made us whole was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.The Hebrew שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness) in Isaiah shares the root שלם (sh-l-m, to be whole or complete) with שְׁלָמִים (shelamim, wholeness offerings) here. Isaiah places that wholeness alongside suffering and healing, showing how the offering’s root reaches toward the mending of what is broken.
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