What Does Exodus 22:31 Mean in the King James?
And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse calls you set apart and draws that boundary at your table: what a beast has torn is not your food.
THE MEANING
Your belonging to God reaches the table: flesh torn by beasts is excluded from your food and cast to the dogs. Holiness is not left as a title; it marks the boundary between what you receive as food and what you leave outside.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Belonging to God is only inward and has no bearing on what enters the body.
THE ROOT
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
To be set apart or consecrated.
“holy” in this verse is qodesh. The verse says “men of holiness,” naming a belonging rather than an isolated quality. The same root names both a set-apart person and a set-apart place; here, that belonging reaches into the boundary around the meal.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Describes what is set apart.
קָדוֹשׁ
It echoes the identity named in “men of holiness.”
miqdash: A place set apart.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The shared root links a set-apart people with a place set apart for God.
טְרֵפָה
terefah
GROWS FROM
טרף
To tear or seize as prey.
The Hebrew identifies this flesh as prey torn by a beast, not simply meat in a damaged condition. The verse places that prey outside the human meal and gives it to the dogs.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāraph: To tear or seize as prey.
טָרַף
This verb makes the violence named by “torn” audible in the root.
ṭeref: Food taken or torn as prey.
טֶרֶף
This branch shows that the flesh is named by its relation to the beast that seized it.
THE PATTERN
What enters the body can become a visible expression of belonging to God.
For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.THE THREAD
For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.Exodus calls the people אַנְשֵׁי־קֹדֶשׁ (anshei qodesh, men of holiness); Leviticus uses קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, set apart), from the same קדשׁ (qadash, set apart) root. The shared root connects the food boundary with the same set-apart belonging.
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