What Does Leviticus 19:21 Mean in the King James?

And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.

Leviticus 19:21 · 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

Guilt is not left as an invisible burden; it is carried to the LORD at the meeting-place’s threshold as an offering.

THE MEANING

Here, guilt is not an abstraction: it is carried before the LORD as a specific offering, at the entrance of the meeting place. The wrong has a name, a form, and a direction.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that guilt is only an inner feeling with no concrete claim is undone: the verse gives it a visible offering and brings it before the LORD.

THE ROOT

אָשָׁם

ʾāšām

GROWS FROM

אשם

To incur guilt or liability; guilt and the offering that addresses it.

The word translated “trespass offering” belongs to the same word-family as guilt and liability. English makes the offering and the wrong sound separate, while Hebrew holds them together: what is brought carries the name of what is being addressed.

ALSO GROWS

ʾāshēm: To be guilty; to incur liability.

אָשֵׁם

This verb shows the condition carried into the offering: guilt is a liability attached to an act.

ʾashmāh: Guilt or culpability.

אַשְׁמָה

This noun names the guilt itself, linking the offering to the wrong it addresses.

ʾăshāmô: His guilt or liability; rendered “the harm” in Leviticus 5:16.

אֲשָׁמוֹ

The same word-family can name what is brought as an offering here and what is repaid as harm there, joining guilt with its concrete consequence.

THE PATTERN

Responsibility becomes visible when guilt is brought into the open through offering, confession, or repair.

Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.

Numbers 5:7 · KJVGuilt takes visible form in confession and repayment, with more than the original amount returned.

And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

Luke 19:8 · KJVThe wrong is met with a concrete act of restoration that names its cost.

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

James 5:16 · KJVWhat is confessed into the open becomes part of a shared movement toward healing.

THE THREAD

And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

Leviticus 5:16 · KJV

The “trespass offering” here and “harm” in Leviticus 5:16 both translate forms of ⁨אשם⁩ (ʾāšām), the word-family for guilt and liability. This verse makes the connection concrete: the guilt is repaid, an added fifth is given, and the ram is brought with forgiveness named at the end.

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