What Does Leviticus 11:44 Mean in the King James?
For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
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
Set-apartness reaches the living self itself: the verse names your nefesh as what must not be made unclean.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s set-apartness is the measure for your life now. Your nefesh, your living soul, is named as what can be kept distinct or made unclean through what you receive.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that holiness belongs only to an invisible inner life: the verse names the living self in a concrete boundary around creatures.
THE ROOT
קָדוֹשׁ
qadosh
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
q-d-sh
To set apart or consecrate; to mark as distinct.
The verse uses the same root for “sanctify yourselves” and “holy”: God’s holiness and your set-apartness share one seed. English presents an action and a quality, while Hebrew keeps their connection visible.
ALSO GROWS
vehitqaddishtem: Set yourselves apart.
וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתֶּם
This is the verb in the verse, showing the same root as an action as well as a quality.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The same root can name a place set apart, making holiness a lived distinction as well as a description of God.
נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם
nafshoteikhem
GROWS FROM
נפשׁ
n-p-sh
A living being, person, or life; the living self.
The Hebrew behind “yourselves” is “your living souls.” נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, living soul) can name people and other living creatures, so this boundary concerns the living self itself, not merely an unseen interior.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: Living soul, person, or life.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the singular word behind the verse’s “yourselves,” grounding the boundary in a living person.
nephesh chayyah: Living soul; living creature.
נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה
The same word can describe an animal as well as a person, keeping human and creaturely life within one vocabulary.
הַשֶּׁרֶץ
ha-sherets
GROWS FROM
שרץ
sh-r-ts
To swarm or teem; a swarming or teeming creature.
The noun translated “creeping thing” carries the sense of a swarming or teeming creature. Its root describes teeming life, not moral evil in itself; the verse sets a boundary around what may defile the living self.
ALSO GROWS
sherets: A swarming or teeming creature.
שֶׁרֶץ
This is the noun used in the verse, preserving the creature’s teeming quality beneath the English phrase.
yishretsu: Let them swarm or teem.
יִשְׁרְצוּ
This verb form uses the same root for the waters teeming with living creatures in Genesis 1:20.
THE PATTERN
Set-apartness concerns the whole living self, taking shape in the boundaries that mark it as belonging to God.
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.THE THREAD
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.Leviticus uses שֶׁרֶץ (sherets, a swarming or teeming creature), from שָׁרַץ (sharats, to swarm or teem), the same root used for the waters teeming with living creatures in Genesis. The root names teeming life; Leviticus draws a boundary around what may defile the living self without making the creature’s name itself mean evil.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us