What Does Exodus 28:43 Mean in the King James?
And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after him.
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
At the threshold, the covering is part of the priest’s service: without it, nearness becomes guilt and death.
THE MEANING
Nearness to what is set apart is embodied: the garment covers the body as service begins. The boundary carries real consequence in the verse, guilt and death, and its rule continues through the generations that follow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The body does not become irrelevant at the threshold of sacred service; its covering belongs to the approach.
THE ROOT
יִשְׂאוּ
yisʾu
GROWS FROM
נשא
נָשָׂא (nasaʾ): to lift, carry, or take up.
The same root can describe carrying a load: מַשָּׂא (massaʾ) means “burden” or “load.” So “bear iniquity” holds both culpability and carrying; the verse presents the uncovered approach as a liability with death as its consequence.
ALSO GROWS
massaʾ: burden, load
מַשָּׂא
This noun from נשא makes the carrying in “bear iniquity” concrete: liability is something taken up.
nasiʾ: leader, prince; one raised up
נָשִׂיא
This title shares the root נשא and preserves its sense of being lifted up, another branch of the root’s movement.
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
קָדַשׁ (qadash): to set apart, designate as sacred.
English makes “holy” sound like a quality and “holy place” like a location, but both grow from the root קדש, “set apart.” The verse presents nearness as entry into a place marked by that boundary.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: set apart, sacred
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective shares קדש and describes what bears the place’s defining quality.
miqdash: sanctuary
מִקְדָּשׁ
This noun shares קדש and names a place designated for sacred use.
qiddesh: set apart, consecrate
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb shares קדש and describes the act of marking something for sacred use.
THE PATTERN
Covering meets exposed nakedness at the threshold of presence, keeping exposure from defining the encounter.
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.THE THREAD
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.Exodus uses נשא (nasaʾ, “carry”) for what the priest must not bear; Isaiah uses the same root when the servant “bare the sin of many.” One verse makes bearing iniquity a consequence that ends in death, while the other places bearing the many’s sin beside a life poured out to death.
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