What Does Exodus 30:38 Mean in the King James?
Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.
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 guarded thing is not merely a recipe: making this fragrance for private enjoyment crosses a boundary that can sever belonging.
THE MEANING
This verse draws a boundary around the fragrance set apart for the LORD: making its likeness for private smelling carries separation from the people. The warning reaches beyond the recipe to its use, what is made for a shared sacred purpose cannot be turned into private possession without consequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that copying something sacred is harmless; here, the purpose and use matter.
THE ROOT
וְנִכְרַת
wenikhret
GROWS FROM
כרת
karat
to cut, sever
The same root can name severance and the idiom of cutting a covenant, so the warning lands in the language of both separation and belonging. Here, the stated consequence is being cut off from the people.
ALSO GROWS
karat berit: cut a covenant
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The root also appears in language for forming a binding relationship, placing this verse’s severance beside the language of belonging.
nikhret: be cut off, severed
נִכְרַת
This form names the loss of community that the verse warns will follow making the fragrance for private use.
לְהָרִיחַ
lehari'aḥ
GROWS FROM
ריח
riaḥ
to smell, perceive a scent
“smell” in this verse is lehari'aḥ. The Hebrew keeps the act physical and sensory: the likeness is made with the purpose of smelling it. The same root can name both the act of smelling and the fragrance itself.
ALSO GROWS
reyach: scent, fragrance
רֵיחַ
The noun names the fragrance that the person intends to enjoy in this verse.
vayyaraḥ: and he smelled
וַיָּרַח
This verb form uses the same root when the LORD smells Noah’s offering in Genesis 8:21, linking the passage’s guarded fragrance with another act of receiving scent.
THE PATTERN
What is set apart carries a boundary, and treating it as ordinary brings consequence.
And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD.And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?THE THREAD
And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.Both verses use the same smell-root: here it names the person’s intended enjoyment of the incense, and there it names the LORD smelling Noah’s offering. That shared word places fragrance inside a relationship, sharpening why the incense in Exodus is guarded from private imitation.
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