What Does Hebrews 10:11 Mean in the King James?
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
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 priests’ daily standing marks a cycle that never reaches rest: the same offering returns because it cannot remove the missing.
THE MEANING
You see the limit of repetition: the same sacrifices recur, yet they cannot remove the missing. The verse leaves that cycle unresolved, then the next verse turns to one offering followed by the one who offers sitting down.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that repeating a religious act often enough will, by itself, remove what is missing.
THE ROOT
περιελεῖν
perielein
GROWS FROM
περιαιρέω (periaireō), from αἱρέω (haireō)
To take away or remove; the base verb means to take or grasp.
“take away” in this verse is perielein. The verb names removal, not gradual improvement: the question is whether the missing can be taken away at all. A related verb appears in Hebrews 10:4, repeating the same limit for the blood of bulls and goats.
ALSO GROWS
haireō: Take, grasp, or choose.
αἱρέω
This base verb gives the compound its image of taking; here the action is removal.
aphaireō: Take away or remove.
ἀφαιρέω
Hebrews 10:4 uses this related verb to say that animal blood cannot take away sins, echoing the limit named here.
ἕστηκεν
hestēken
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι
histēmi
To stand or set in place.
“standeth” in this verse is hestēken. The Greek form presents a state: each priest has taken his stand and remains standing. Beside the next verse’s image of one who sits down, this posture becomes the shape of service that has not reached rest.
ALSO GROWS
anistēmi: Rise or stand up.
ἀνίστημι
The same standing family also carries the language of rising; here the priest remains in a standing service.
kathistēmi: Set, place, or appoint.
καθίστημι
This branch shows the root’s sense of being set in a position, as the priest is set to repeated service.
ἁμαρτίας
hamartias
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτάνω
hamartanō
To miss, fail to reach, or err.
The noun ἁμαρτία (hamartia, “missing”) belongs to the same word family as the verb for missing. English “sins” can sound like a pile of separate offenses; the root keeps the focus on the missing that these repeated sacrifices cannot take away.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: To miss or err.
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb keeps the act of missing visible beneath the noun in the verse.
hamartōlos: One who misses; a sinner.
ἁμαρτωλός
The word for a person carries the same seed, linking the missing to the one who bears it.
THE PATTERN
Daily repetition marks work still in motion; one offering followed by rest marks work brought to completion.
Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually.Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;THE THREAD
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.Both verses use ἁμαρτία (hamartia, “missing”). Hebrews says the repeated sacrifices cannot remove it; John names the Lamb as the one who takes it away, bringing the shared word into a sharp contrast.
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