What Does Leviticus 16:19 Mean in the King James?
And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
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 altar’s uncleanness is removed so it can be set apart again: what touches the sacred does not become its nature.
THE MEANING
What is set apart can still bear the uncleanness that reaches it without being defined by that uncleanness. Here the altar is cleansed and set apart again; what has carried impurity is not left in that state.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
What has been touched by uncleanness can never be set apart again.
THE ROOT
וְטִהֲרוֹ
ve-ṭihărô
GROWS FROM
טהר
Be clean or pure.
“cleanse” in this verse is ve-ṭihărô. The same root can name both the act of cleansing and the state of being clean. The verse presents cleansing as a return to cleanness, not a new identity added to the altar.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāhôr: Clean, pure.
טָהוֹר
The adjective names the state the cleansing restores.
ṭāhorāh: Cleanness, purity.
טָהֳרָה
The noun makes cleanness a condition that can be restored.
וְקִדְּשׁוֹ
ve-qiddĕšô
GROWS FROM
קדש
Set apart as sacred.
“hallow” in this verse is ve-qiddĕšô. The verse places cleansing and setting apart side by side: first the altar is cleared of impurity, then its sacred distinction is affirmed. The two verbs name related but distinct movements.
ALSO GROWS
qādôš: Set apart, sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
It describes the status affirmed when the altar is hallowed.
qōdeš: Sacredness, a holy place or thing.
קֹדֶשׁ
It shows how the same root names both sacred status and what is set apart.
טֻמְאֹת
ṭumʾôt
GROWS FROM
טמא
Be ritually impure or defiled.
“uncleanness” in this verse is ṭumʾôt. The verse names impurity as something that can reach the altar from the people. It speaks of ritual defilement here, not a judgment that the people or the altar are inherently worthless.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāmēʾ: Unclean, ritually impure.
טָמֵא
This adjective names the condition carried by the root.
ṭumʾāh: Uncleanness, ritual impurity.
טֻמְאָה
This noun names the condition the verse says the altar is cleansed from.
THE PATTERN
A marked act of cleansing moves what has met impurity toward cleanness and restored sacredness.
And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:THE THREAD
For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.The same Hebrew root טהר (ṭ-h-r, be clean or pure) appears in “cleanse” and “be clean.” In verse 19 the altar is cleansed from Israel’s impurities; here the same cleansing reaches the people.
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