What Does Leviticus 20:5 Mean in the King James?
Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, 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 root כרת (kārat, “to cut off”) makes the outcome a severing from the people, and the verse extends that severing to those who follow the same pursuit.
THE MEANING
The verse names a person who pursues Molech and draws others after him; the divine opposition includes his family, and the man and those followers are cut off from their people. Its repeated language of whoring presents this as a shared allegiance, not a passing contact.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a chosen allegiance can remain private is undone: the verse names the person’s family and followers within the reach of its consequences.
THE ROOT
וְהִכְרַתִּי
we-hikhrattî
GROWS FROM
כרת
kārat
To cut, sever, or cut off.
“cut him off” in this verse is we-hikhrattî. The root gives the threat the shape of a severing from the people, rather than an undefined loss. The man and those who pursue Molech after him are named in that severing, while his family is named as being under the opposing face.
ALSO GROWS
kārēt: Excision; being cut off.
כָּרֵת
This noun preserves the same cutting-off image and clarifies the force of the verse’s severing language.
kerîtût: Divorce; severance of a bond.
כְּרִיתוּת
This form carries the root’s sense of severing into the ending of a relationship, revealing how the root can describe separation from a bond as well as from a people.
לִזְנוֹת
liznôt
GROWS FROM
זנה
zānâ
To prostitute oneself or act sexually unfaithfully.
“to commit whoredom” in this verse is liznôt. The root appears in the description of those who follow the man and again in the stated purpose of pursuing Molech. The echo ties following a person to the shared act of pursuing Molech, presenting the act as an allegiance that gathers followers.
ALSO GROWS
zōnāh: A woman who prostitutes herself; a prostitute.
זֹנָה
This form retains all three root consonants and shows the literal sexual force carried by the verse’s language.
zōneh: A man who prostitutes himself; one who acts sexually unfaithfully.
זֹנֶה
This masculine form belongs to the same consonantal family as the followers named in the verse.
הַמֹּלֶךְ
ha-Mōlekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
mālak
To reign or rule; the same consonantal family includes the word for king.
Molech’s written consonants match the Hebrew word-family for king and reigning. Beside the repeated pursuit “after Molech,” that resonance sharpens the sense of allegiance to a rival rule while leaving the named object explicit.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
It shares the name’s three consonants and makes the kingship resonance audible without replacing Molech’s name.
himlîkh: To make or install as king.
הִמְלִיךְ
This verb shares the same root consonants and shows the family’s connection to establishing rule.
THE PATTERN
An allegiance can be recruited through relationships, repeated as a shared pursuit, and tied to the consequences of what is served.
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.Both verses use the Hebrew root זנה (zānâ, “to prostitute oneself” or “act sexually unfaithfully”) for pursuing another object of devotion. The shared root joins following a person with the group’s pursuit after Molech.
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