What Does Leviticus 14:15 Mean in the King James?
And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand:
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 rite makes care pass through a human hand: the priest receives the oil before he applies it.
THE MEANING
A measured portion of oil enters the priest’s palm as the cleansing rite takes shape. For you now, the verse shows care arriving through something held and carried by a human hand. The oil’s root also carries the sense of richness and fullness.
THE ROOT
שֶׁמֶן
shemen
GROWS FROM
שמן
To be fat, grow rich, or become abundant; shemen is oil or fat.
The Hebrew word for oil belongs to the same root family as words for fatness and richness. The priest’s palm receives more than a generic liquid: the word itself carries a shade of fullness.
ALSO GROWS
shamen: Fat, rich, or well-nourished.
שָׁמֵן
This adjective shares the root with shemen, keeping oil connected to richness and nourishment.
vayishman: Grew fat or became full (Deuteronomy 32:15).
וַיִּשְׁמַן
The verb makes the root’s sense of growing into fullness visible alongside the oil held in the priest’s palm.
וְיָצַק
veyatsaq
GROWS FROM
יצק
To pour out or cast by pouring.
“pour” in this verse is veyatsaq. The verb names oil moving into the priest’s palm, and the same root can describe pouring material into a form. The palm is therefore not incidental: it receives the flowing oil and gives it a place from which it can be carried onward.
ALSO GROWS
vayyitsoq: He poured (Genesis 28:18).
וַיִּצֹק
The same root describes Jacob pouring oil onto a stone, showing the verb’s use for oil directed onto a receiving surface.
veyatsaqta: You shall pour (Exodus 29:7).
וְיָצַקְתָּ
The same root directs anointing oil onto a priest’s head, linking this verse’s oil-filled palm with another priestly act.
THE PATTERN
Oil becomes a tangible channel of care when it passes through human hands.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:THE THREAD
Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.The Hebrew verb יָצַק (yatsaq, pour) appears in both verses: here oil is poured into a priest’s palm, and there it is poured onto a priest’s head. The repeated action makes the priest’s hand part of the movement of the oil through the rite.
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