What Does Leviticus 11:38 Mean in the King James?
But if any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you.
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
Water makes the seed’s receptivity decisive: when a carcass falls on what has received it, the seed’s condition changes.
THE MEANING
When water has been put upon the seed, a carcass falling on it makes it unclean for you. The verse holds the seed’s life-bearing nature alongside its changed condition: what can carry life is still affected by what lands upon it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that something’s life-bearing purpose makes every contact harmless: the seed remains seed, yet becomes unclean through what touches it.
THE ROOT
זֶרַע
zeraʿ
GROWS FROM
זרע
To sow; the root connects the seed with the act of planting it.
The same Hebrew word, זֶרַע (zeraʿ, seed), also means offspring: it carries both what is planted and what may come from it. The verse marks a changed condition in something that bears life, without saying that its generative nature has disappeared.
ALSO GROWS
zāraʿ: To sow
זָרַע
The verb keeps the seed tied to its planting and future growth.
zōrēaʿ: One who sows; a sower
זֹרֵעַ
This form shows the same root at work in the act of putting seed into the ground.
zeraʿ: Offspring or descendants
זֶרַע
The seed’s meaning extends from what is planted to the life that comes after it.
טָמֵא
ṭāmēʾ
GROWS FROM
טמא
To be or become unclean; to enter a state of ritual impurity.
טָמֵא (ṭāmēʾ, unclean) names a changed purity status, not a moral flaw in the seed. The phrase “unto you” makes the consequence relational: this is how the seed now stands for you after the carcass falls on it.
ALSO GROWS
tumʾah: Uncleanness or impurity
טֻמְאָה
The noun names the condition the verse assigns to the seed.
timmēʾ: To make unclean or defile
טִמֵּא
This verbal form shows the root as an action that changes the purity status of something.
THE PATTERN
Purity in these verses determines whether something is fit to be sown, offered, or used.
And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean.Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.THE THREAD
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.Genesis uses the same word, זֶרַע (zeraʿ, seed), for the life-bearing capacity within what grows. Together, the verses distinguish what the seed can carry forward from its present condition: its generative nature does not erase the effect of what falls upon it.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us