What Does Leviticus 16:29 Mean in the King James?
And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
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 living self itself is humbled, and native and sojourner share that same act.
THE MEANING
The day gathers every person in the community, native and resident outsider, into the same act of humbling the living self and stopping work. Its demand is shared: no status exempts anyone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that this sacred demand belongs only to the native or that a resident outsider is exempt.
THE ROOT
וְעִנִּיתֶם
veʿinnitem
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿanah
To humble or afflict; to bring low.
“afflict” in this verse is veʿinnitem. The root names a humbling or affliction, and its related words describe both the afflicted person and the affliction itself. Here that action falls on the living self, naming a lived humbling rather than a passing mood.
ALSO GROWS
ʿani: Afflicted or poor.
עָנִי
The afflicted person carries the same lowered condition named by the verb.
ʿoni: Affliction or suffering.
עֳנִי
This noun names the condition produced by the humbling in the verse.
נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם
nafshotekhem
GROWS FROM
נפש
nephesh
The living self: life or person as a whole.
“souls” in this verse is nafshotekhem. Nefesh names the living soul, the whole person rather than a detachable inner compartment. A related verb in this root family means to refresh oneself, so the living self is also the place where renewal can be experienced.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: Living soul; a living person or self.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the singular form behind “your souls,” showing that the command concerns each person’s living self.
naphash: To refresh oneself or rest.
נָפַשׁ
This related verb connects the living self with refreshment, opening a contrast between being brought low and being renewed.
THE PATTERN
A shared sacred life places the resident outsider within the same communal standing as the native.
One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.THE THREAD
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?Isaiah uses the same root pair: ענה (ʿanah, to humble or afflict) and נפש (nephesh, the living self). Its question opens the phrase in Leviticus by asking whether self-affliction is only an outward gesture or a humbling that reaches the living person.
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