What Does Exodus 30:19 Mean in the King James?
For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:
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 washing reaches both what the hands do and where the feet carry the body, making readiness an act that includes the whole person.
THE MEANING
Here, hands and feet pass through the same washing before service: both action and approach are part of being prepared. The verse presents sacred readiness as something embodied and specific.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that readiness is purely inward; the verse includes the hands and feet of the one approaching.
THE ROOT
וְרָחֲצוּ
verachatsu
GROWS FROM
רחץ
to wash, bathe
“wash” in this verse is verachatsu. The root keeps washing concrete: water touches the body. Here the same act includes hands and feet, bringing both action and approach into the preparation.
ALSO GROWS
verachatsu: An instruction to wash the feet with water.
וְרַחֲצוּ
The same root joins washing with the feet, as it does here.
verachatzta: Wash Aaron and his sons with water.
וְרָחַצְתָּ
The root also describes washing the priests as they are prepared for service.
רַגְלֵיהֶם
ragleyhem
GROWS FROM
רגל
foot; the word-family also includes going about on foot
The word-family links the foot with going about, so washing the feet attends to the body’s movement and approach. It makes the path toward service bodily, not merely inward.
ALSO GROWS
regel: The singular form of the word for foot.
רֶגֶל
It names the body part included in this washing.
ragal: A verb in the same word-family, meaning to go about or spy out.
רָגַל
The verbal branch echoes movement, bringing the feet’s approach into view.
THE PATTERN
Readiness for approach is expressed through washing the body that acts, enters, and serves.
And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.THE THREAD
When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as the LORD commanded Moses.The same רחץ (rachats), “wash,” root recurs, and this verse places the washing at entry into the tent and approach to the altar. That makes the hands-and-feet detail here part of preparation at the body’s threshold of approach.
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