What Does Leviticus 21:11 Mean in the King James?
Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
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 names the dead as persons even as it draws a boundary around them, so distance from death does not erase the dead person’s kinship.
THE MEANING
As you read, you hold two things together: a dead person remains someone whose nearest names are father and mother, and sacred service still has a boundary even there. The line leaves grief in place without letting it dissolve that boundary.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that the closest family bond automatically suspends every boundary: even a father’s or mother’s death does not cancel this separation.
THE ROOT
נַפְשֹׁת מֵת
nafshot met
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh
The self or person; nefesh names an embodied person or living soul.
The phrase translated “dead body” names a dead person with the word-family of nefesh, the person or living soul. Death has occurred, but the wording still holds the dead as someone, not merely as matter.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: person, self, living soul
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the singular form behind the phrase: even in death, the verse speaks of a person.
naphash: to rest, be refreshed
נָפַשׁ
The related verb appears in language of rest and refreshment; beside the dead person in this verse, it shows the root’s reach across the condition of a person and their restored respite.
יִטַּמָּא
yitamma
GROWS FROM
טמא
ṭ-m-ʾ
To be or become ritually unclean; to enter a state of impurity.
“defile himself” in this verse is yitamma. The verb places the emphasis on entering a state of uncleanness. The line describes a change in ritual status at the boundary around death, while leaving grief for father or mother intact.
ALSO GROWS
tame: unclean, impure
טָמֵא
This adjective names the state the verb says the priest must not enter through contact with the dead.
tum’ah: uncleanness, impurity
טֻמְאָה
This noun names that state as a condition, making the boundary around death concrete.
THE PATTERN
The dead body marks a real boundary, yet that boundary can become the place where life intervenes.
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.THE THREAD
But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.Leviticus bars the priest from approaching a dead person; Matthew shows Jesus going in and taking the hand of the girl her father has just declared dead. The boundary that requires distance here becomes a threshold he crosses, and the girl rises.
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