What Does Exodus 30:18 Mean in the King James?
Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.
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 basin stands between the meeting place and the altar, making washing part of the passage between them.
THE MEANING
The water basin occupies the space between the place of meeting and the altar, so washing belongs within the movement toward encounter and offering. The verse speaks to you now: approach has a threshold where what covers can be washed away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that you must arrive already clean before you can approach dissolves here: the washing place stands on the way toward the altar.
THE ROOT
רָחַץ
rachats
GROWS FROM
ר-ח-ץ
To wash or bathe.
“wash” in this verse is rachats. The same root names ordinary bodily washing and washing at the threshold of approach. Its branches make cleansing an action along the way into encounter, rather than a declaration that nothing needed washing.
ALSO GROWS
rachats: To wash or bathe.
רָחַץ
This is the verb behind “to wash withal”; it makes washing something that happens at the basin on the way toward the altar.
rechitsah: Washing or bathing.
רְחִיצָה
This noun form keeps the action of washing visible: the basin is a place for cleansing, not merely a furnishing between two sacred spaces.
THE PATTERN
Approach to the sacred is marked by washing at the boundary between presence and offering.
When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.THE THREAD
I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:The Hebrew root ר-ח-ץ (rachats, “wash”) links this verse’s basin to the washing of hands beside the altar. The shared root holds washing and approach together as one movement.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us