What Does Leviticus 14:11 Mean in the King James?
And the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
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
Cleansing reaches toward presence: the one being made clean is brought to stand before the LORD at the opening of the meeting place.
THE MEANING
Here, being made clean reaches beyond a changed condition: the person is brought to stand before the LORD at the entrance of the meeting place. The verse holds cleansing and presence together, showing restoration as a return to encounter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that cleansing is complete as soon as someone is declared clean: the verse carries it on into standing before the LORD.
THE ROOT
הַמְטַהֵר
hametaher
GROWS FROM
טהר
Be clean or pure; cleanse.
The same root describes both the priest making clean and the person being cleansed. English can make the first sound like an action and the second like a finished status, while Hebrew keeps them in one word family: cleansing and cleanness belong together as the person is brought before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
tahor: Clean, pure.
טָהוֹר
This branch names the condition toward which the repeated cleansing is moving.
tohorah: Purity or purification.
טָהֳרָה
It keeps the verse’s movement visible: cleanness is both a condition and a process of purification.
וְהֶעֱמִיד
vehe'emid
GROWS FROM
עמד
Stand, remain, take one’s stand.
The Hebrew behind “present” carries the sense of causing someone to stand. The person is not just listed as clean; the priest sets him on his feet before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
amad: Stand or take one’s stand.
עָמַד
This is the basic action carried into the priest’s act of presenting the man.
ma'amad: A standing, position, or place.
מַעֲמָד
It echoes the man’s placement before the LORD: the verse gives him a place to stand.
פֶּתַח
petach
GROWS FROM
פתח
Open; an opening.
The “door” is named with a word that means an opening or entrance. Cleansing arrives at a threshold: the person stands before the LORD at the opening of the meeting place.
ALSO GROWS
patach: Open.
פָּתַח
The verb reveals the action held inside the noun “opening.”
mapteah: A key; something that opens.
מַפְתֵּחַ
This branch shares the opening-root and sharpens the image of an entrance as access.
THE PATTERN
Cleansing moves a person toward presence, reaching from the body’s condition to the heart and the act of drawing near.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.THE THREAD
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.The same Hebrew root, טהר (tāhar, be clean or pure), names the cleansing here and the “clean” heart in the psalm. Leviticus places cleansing at the threshold before the LORD; the psalm carries that same word into the heart.
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