What Does Exodus 32:30 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
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
A great missing is not the last word here: Moses seeks its covering, and “peradventure” leaves the answer open.
THE MEANING
A great missing is named plainly, without being minimized. Moses goes toward the LORD seeking a covering, while “peradventure” keeps the outcome unresolved. The verse holds the gravity of the wrong and the uncertainty of what meets it together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The claim that your failure is too great to bring before God loosens here: Moses names it as great, then goes up to the LORD seeking what may cover it.
THE ROOT
אֲכַפְּרָה
ʾakapperah
GROWS FROM
כפר
כפר (kaphar): cover; make a covering.
“make an atonement” in this verse is ʾakapperah. The verb Moses uses belongs to a word-family of covering and ransom. He is seeking a covering for the people’s wrong, not declaring that it has already been accomplished.
ALSO GROWS
kapporet: Cover or lid of the Ark, called the mercy seat.
כַּפֹּרֶת
This branch makes the root’s covering concrete, giving depth to the covering Moses seeks.
kopher: Ransom or covering price.
כֹּפֶר
This branch links covering with the price that answers a life-threatening wrong.
חֲטָאתֶם
ḥăṭāʾtem
GROWS FROM
חטא
חטא (chata): miss, go wrong, incur guilt.
“sinned a great sin” in this verse is ḥăṭāʾtem. The Hebrew repeats the same root in “you have sinned” and “your sin,” where English uses different forms. The repeated seed names both the act and the missing it leaves behind, while “great” marks its scale.
ALSO GROWS
chet: Missing or fault.
חֵטְא
This noun keeps the sense of a miss inside the English word “sin.”
chatta't: Sin; in sacrificial usage, an offering for the missing.
חַטָּאת
This branch joins the naming of wrongdoing with the possibility of a response to it.
THE PATTERN
A named wrong is carried toward God in hope of covering, cleansing, or release.
For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.THE THREAD
For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.The Hebrew root כפר (kaphar, cover) in Moses’ “make an atonement” appears again in Leviticus’ “make an atonement.” There, covering is joined to cleansing, sharpening what Moses seeks while “peradventure” keeps this verse’s outcome unresolved.
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