What Does Leviticus 19:2 Mean in the King James?

Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.

Leviticus 19:2 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

One root names both your calling and God’s nature: set-apartness is shared, not self-invented.

THE MEANING

You are addressed as part of a whole congregation, and your set-apartness takes its measure from the LORD who is your God. The same root names both what God is and what this people is called to be; the distinction is bound to belonging to him.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Set-apartness is a private status you create by being better than other people.

THE ROOT

קְדֹשִׁים

qedoshim

GROWS FROM

קדש

Q-D-Sh

To be set apart; to be sacred.

The verse uses forms of the same root for the congregation’s calling and the LORD’s own nature. English can make “holy” sound like a quality reserved for God, but the Hebrew repeats the root across both: what marks God as set apart also names what the people are called to embody.

ALSO GROWS

qodesh: Holiness; sacredness; that which is set apart.

קֹדֶשׁ

This noun shows that the root names not only a quality but also the sacred sphere associated with it.

qiddesh: Set apart; sanctified.

קִדֵּשׁ

This verb makes visible the action behind the calling: setting apart is the root’s movement, not merely a label.

THE PATTERN

The people are called to embody the same set-apartness named in God.

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Exodus 19:6 · KJVThe congregation’s set-apart identity is expressed as a shared calling to belong to God.

And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

Leviticus 20:26 · KJVThe same root links the people’s set-apartness to the LORD’s, and the verse names belonging as its purpose.

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:16 · KJVThe verse carries the same pattern across languages: the people’s calling echoes God’s own set-apart nature.

THE THREAD

And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

Leviticus 20:26 · KJV

The same set-apart root appears in both “ye shall be holy” and “I the LORD am holy,” then the verse names the result: “that ye should be mine.” The calling is bound to belonging.

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