What Does Leviticus 18:29 Mean in the King James?
For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
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 verse says the consequence reaches the living person by severing that person from their people, making belonging part of what is at stake.
THE MEANING
This verse places a hard boundary around the acts it calls abominations: the people who do them are cut off from their community. It names living persons, not a detachable part of a person, and ties their conduct to their place among others. The consequence is severe, and this sentence does not explain how the severance is carried out.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that these acts remain only individual: the verse makes a person’s relation to their people part of the consequence.
THE ROOT
וְנִכְרְתוּ
venikhretu
GROWS FROM
כרת
To cut, cut away, or sever.
“cut off” in this verse is venikhretu. The root gives the consequence the force of severance: the living persons are cut away from their people. The same root also appears in the phrase for making a covenant, so its range can mark both a bond and a cutting away from communal belonging.
ALSO GROWS
karet: Being cut off; excision.
כָּרֵת
This noun makes the severing sense explicit and echoes the verse’s consequence.
karat berit: To cut a covenant.
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same root can describe entering a binding relationship, revealing how closely this verse’s severance is tied to belonging.
הַנְּפָשׁוֹת
han-nefashot
GROWS FROM
נפש
Living soul, self, or living being.
“souls” in this verse is han-nefashot. Nefesh names the living person, not merely an immaterial inner part. Here the verse speaks of whole persons being cut off from their people.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh ḥayyah: Living creature; living soul.
נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה
This phrase shows nefesh naming a whole living being, which clarifies the scope of the verse’s severance.
nafshi: My self; my living soul.
נַפְשִׁי
This possessive form keeps the word close to the person themselves, rather than an isolated part of them.
הַתּוֹעֵבֹת
ha-to'evot
GROWS FROM
תעב
To abhor or regard as loathsome.
“abominations” in this verse is ha-to'evot. The word carries the force of abhorrence, not simply an abstract category of rule-breaking. Its root connects the named acts to a strong judgment of rejection.
ALSO GROWS
to'evah: An abomination; something loathed.
תּוֹעֵבָה
The singular form shows the category applied to each act named in the chapter.
ta'av: To abhor or detest.
תָּעַב
The verb reveals the force behind the noun: these are acts regarded with abhorrence.
THE PATTERN
These passages depict certain acts as capable of rupturing a person’s place within a community.
But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.THE THREAD
And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.Genesis uses the same root, כרת (karat, cut or sever), in the phrase “that soul shall be cut off from his people.” In both verses, nefesh names a living person whose place among their people is severed.
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