What Does Exodus 40:30 Mean in the King James?
And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal.
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 laver sits between the tent of meeting and the altar, making washing the threshold that clears the approach.
THE MEANING
Water stands between the tent of meeting and the altar, so washing belongs to the approach itself. For you now, the image holds a place where what clings can be rinsed away before nearness continues.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that nearness means carrying every trace of uncleanness straight through; the verse places washing in between.
THE ROOT
רָחַץ
rachats
GROWS FROM
רחץ
to wash or bathe
“wash” in this verse is rachats. The same root appears in the washing at the altar and in a speaker’s own hand-washing in Psalm 26:6. Across these forms, the text joins cleansing to bodily approach: hands and feet pass through water before the altar.
ALSO GROWS
rachatsu: they wash or bathe
רָחֲצוּ
This form describes Aaron and his sons washing their hands and feet at the basin (Exodus 30:19), making the action concrete and embodied.
erchats: I wash
אֶרְחַץ
This form appears in Psalm 26:6, where washing hands is joined to circling the altar; the same root links the basin to the act of approaching.
THE PATTERN
Nearness includes a clearing of what clings before approach.
For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.THE THREAD
I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:The verb translated “wash” shares the root רָחַץ (rachats, wash or bathe) in both verses. Here water stands between the tent and altar; in the psalm, washing hands leads into circling the altar, making the same embodied connection visible.
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