What Does Leviticus 1:15 Mean in the King James?

And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar:

Leviticus 1:15 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for altar belongs to the root of slaughter and sacrifice, joining the place named in this verse to the act taking place there.

THE MEANING

The offering reaches the altar through a sequence of bodily acts: the bird’s head is wrung off, its blood is drained beside the altar, and it is burned there. The verse keeps the offering’s death and blood in view as part of the rite.

THE ROOT

מִזְבֵּחַ

mizbeach

GROWS FROM

זבח

z-b-ḥ

to slaughter or sacrifice

The Hebrew name for the altar grows from ⁨זבח⁩, the root for slaughtering and sacrifice. In this verse, the place’s name and the bird’s treatment belong to the same word-family, tying the altar to the concrete act performed there.

ALSO GROWS

zavach: to slaughter or sacrifice

זָבַח

This verb names the act that the altar’s name carries into the verse.

zevach: a sacrifice or sacrificial offering

זֶבַח

This noun connects the altar to the offering brought there, whose blood is drained and whose body is burned.

THE PATTERN

In sacrifice, the offering’s life is made visible through its presentation at the altar, its blood, and its burning.

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 8:20 · KJVThe altar receives animals and birds as burnt offerings, joining the offering to the act of burning.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Leviticus 17:11 · KJVThe verse names the life in the blood and places that blood upon the altar.

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Hebrews 9:22 · KJVThe verse makes the shedding of blood part of the scriptural language of sacrifice and release.

THE THREAD

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Leviticus 17:11 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨דָּם⁩ (dam, blood). Leviticus 17:11 says the flesh’s life is in the blood and that blood is given upon the altar, opening the draining act in 1:15 as the rite’s handling of life.

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