What Does Leviticus 22:13 Mean in the King James?
But if the priest’s daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and is returned unto her father’s house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s meat: but there shall no stranger eat thereof.
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
Her return restores access to her father’s provision, while the consecrated table keeps its boundary.
THE MEANING
The verse gives the priest’s daughter a place in her father’s house when she is widowed or divorced, has no child, and returns there as in her youth. She eats from his provision again, the KJV’s “meat” here means food, while the consecrated portion remains within its stated boundary: no outsider eats from it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a daughter whose marriage ends is necessarily cut off from her father’s provision; the verse names a return, under explicit conditions, to her place there.
THE ROOT
שָׁבָה
shavah
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
to turn back, return
“returned” in this verse is shavah. The verb comes from the same root as “restoreth” in Psalm 23:3, where what has wandered is brought back. Here, return is more than a change of address: it brings the daughter back into her father’s household and its provision, while the passage keeps that provision bounded.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: return; turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun preserves the movement in the verb as a return, not merely arrival at a new place.
yeshovev: restores; brings back
יְשׁוֹבֵב
Psalm 23:3 uses this form from the same root, revealing the restorative shade carried by the daughter’s return.
THE PATTERN
Return is a movement back into belonging, and provision makes that belonging tangible.
And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:THE THREAD
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.Leviticus has שָׁבָה (shavah, “she returns”), from שׁוּב (shuv, “return”); Psalm 23:3 uses יְשׁוֹבֵב (yeshovev, “restores” or “brings back”) from that same root. The shared root lets the daughter’s return carry the shade of restoration, while the verse’s conditions and boundary remain clear.
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