What Does Leviticus 14:42 Mean in the King James?
And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.
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 house remains whole as damaged stones are replaced and its surface is restored.
THE MEANING
You are not reduced to the damaged place within you: repair can reach the exact place where the damage sits, replace what is compromised, and restore the surface of the dwelling. The house remains through the work.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
One damaged place means the whole dwelling is ruined and must be abandoned. Here, the affected stones are replaced while the house itself is repaired.
THE ROOT
אֲבָנִים
avanim
GROWS FROM
אבן
stone
The consonant echo אָב (av, father) + בֵּן (ben, son) lets the stone carry father and son within the image of a dwelling. Here, stones are not discarded with the house: they are exchanged so the dwelling can remain.
ALSO GROWS
even: A single stone.
אֶבֶן
The repair happens at the level of the individual building block.
even pinnah: Cornerstone.
אֶבֶן פִּנָּה
The same stone image can point to the piece that sets a structure’s alignment, as in Psalm 118:22.
av: Father + son.
אָב + בֵּן
Their consonant echo within אֶבֶן (even, stone) opens a reading of the stone as carrying father and son together.
וְטָח
wəṭāḥ
GROWS FROM
טוח
ṭ-w-ḥ
to smear, spread, or plaster
“plaister” in this verse is wəṭāḥ. The Hebrew verb describes spreading a coating across the house after the stones are replaced. Repair reaches both the damaged material beneath and the surface that brings the wall together.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāḥ: To spread a coating over a surface.
טָח
This is the action that finishes the repaired house.
ṭāḥîm: Spreading plaster or coating.
טָחִים
The same root appears in the image of a wall being daubed, making the surface work visible.
אֲחֵרוֹת
aḥerot
GROWS FROM
אחר
after, behind; that which follows or is other
The word for “other” shares its root with “after.” The repair has a sequence: what is damaged gives way, and what comes after it takes its place.
ALSO GROWS
aḥer: Other, another.
אַחֵר
These are the other stones that occupy the damaged stones’ former place.
aḥarei: After, behind.
אַחֲרֵי
The root’s sense of what follows makes the replacement a next step for the same dwelling.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling is restored when compromised parts are replaced and the structure is made sound again.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.THE THREAD
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.Here stones take the place of damaged stones so the house can be restored; in Psalm 118, the rejected stone becomes the head of the corner. The shared word אֶבֶן (even, stone) moves from replacement material to the piece that sets the structure’s alignment.
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