What Does Exodus 29:11 Mean in the King James?

And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Exodus 29:11 · KJV

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 bull is slaughtered at the opening of the meeting-place, where the threshold and the LORD’s presence converge in bodily violence.

THE MEANING

This verse puts the bull’s slaughter before you: it happens before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Presence, threshold, and bodily violence occupy one scene.

THE ROOT

פֶּתַח

petaḥ

GROWS FROM

פתח

p-t-ḥ

to open

The word translated “door” is ⁨פֶּתַח⁩ (petaḥ), an opening, from ⁨פָּתַח⁩ (pataḥ), “to open.” The bull is slaughtered at this named opening of meeting, making the threshold part of the scene’s meaning, not just its setting.

ALSO GROWS

pataḥ: to open

פָּתַח

The doorway and the act of opening share the same root, tying the place of meeting to an opening.

mafteaḥ: key

מַפְתֵּחַ

The key belongs to the same root family as the opening; both name what opens a way through.

לִפְנֵי

lifne

GROWS FROM

פנה

p-n-h

to turn or face toward

The Hebrew phrase ⁨לִפְנֵי יְהוָה⁩ (lifne YHWH, “before the LORD”) carries the face and presence sense of ⁨פָּנִים⁩ (panim, “face; presence”). The slaughter is set in the LORD’s presence, not merely near a sacred place.

ALSO GROWS

panim: face; presence

פָּנִים

This noun gives “before the LORD” its face-to-face sense of presence.

panah: to turn; face toward

פָּנָה

The root’s movement toward a face deepens the phrase beyond simple location.

lifne: before; in front of

לִפְנֵי

This is the form used in the verse, placing the slaughter before the LORD’s face.

THE PATTERN

The meeting with the LORD is embodied: sacrifice is enacted where people approach.

And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.

Exodus 29:16 · KJVThe same consecration passage keeps the sacrifice bodily and makes its blood visible at the altar.

And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Leviticus 1:5 · KJVThe killing, the LORD’s presence, and the doorway of meeting appear together again.

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Hebrews 9:22 · KJVThe verse names blood as integral to the sacrificial pattern.

THE THREAD

If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.

Leviticus 1:3 · KJV

Leviticus repeats the phrase “at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD” for a burnt offering. The echo shows the doorway as the threshold where the offering and the meeting are placed together.

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