What Does Leviticus 17:16 Mean in the King James?
But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.
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 refusal itself is the hinge: what is left unwashed becomes what the person must carry.
THE MEANING
When you leave the cleansing undone, the condition remains yours to carry; ignoring it does not make it vanish. The verb translated “bear” means to lift or carry, giving the consequence weight and movement. The verse joins the unwashed garment and unbathed flesh to the bearer’s burden.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an uncleansed condition disappears when ignored is undone: refusal leaves it with the one who bears it.
THE ROOT
נָשָׂא
nasa
GROWS FROM
נשא
To lift, carry, bear, or take up.
נָשָׂא (nasa) means to lift, carry, or bear, so “bear” holds both weight and motion. The verse makes the unresolved condition something carried by the person who does not wash, rather than a label detached from them.
ALSO GROWS
nissāʾ: Be lifted, be raised, or be exalted.
נִשָּׂא
The same lift-and-carry root shifts from bearing a burden to being lifted up, showing the movement held inside נָשָׂא.
nāśîʾ: A chief or prince.
נָשִׂיא
The title carries the sense of one raised or elevated, preserving the root’s upward motion.
THE PATTERN
What is left unwashed or hidden remains with its bearer; what is brought into the open can be cleansed.
And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.THE THREAD
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.Leviticus attaches the burden to the person who leaves cleansing undone; Isaiah uses the same נָשָׂא verb for the one who bears the missing of many. The root holds the acts together while the bearer shifts.
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