What Does Leviticus 22:2 Mean in the King James?
Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me: I am the LORD.
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
What you set apart for God and the nature by which you know God are joined: to make the sacred common is to profane the Name.
THE MEANING
The verse binds the LORD’s name, his nature, to the handling of what is set apart for him. In your life, the sacred is carried by what you dedicate; treating it as ordinary also makes the name it bears common.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that reverence for God’s name can be separated from how sacred things are handled.
THE ROOT
יְחַלְּלוּ
yeḥallelū
GROWS FROM
חלל
ḥ-l-l
Make common; profane or defile.
“profane” in this verse is yeḥallelū. Alongside irreverence, this verb carries the act of making something common. The verse sets that action against setting things apart, revealing how treating the sacred as ordinary reaches the Name.
ALSO GROWS
ḥōl: Common or ordinary; outside the sacred sphere.
חֹל
It shows the contrast within the Hebrew vocabulary: profaning makes what is set apart common.
ḥillul: Profanation; treating the sacred as common.
חִלּוּל
This noun from the same root keeps the focus on a change in how something sacred is treated.
מַקְדִּשִׁים
maqdišim
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; mark as sacred.
The phrase “my holy name” includes שֵׁם (shem, “name as nature”), while “holy” and “hallow” share the root for setting apart. The verse binds what the LORD is known to be with how dedicated things are treated.
ALSO GROWS
qōdeš: A sacred thing; set-apartness.
קֹדֶשׁ
The verse calls the offerings “holy things” with this root, naming the status at stake.
miqdāš: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary carries the same root into a place marked as sacred.
וְיִנָּזְרוּ
veyinnāzerū
GROWS FROM
נזר
n-z-r
Separate oneself; keep apart or dedicate.
“separate themselves” in this verse is veyinnāzerū. The verb describes a boundary around what is set apart. Related words can mark a consecrated person or a diadem, so separation can carry identity as well as distance.
ALSO GROWS
nāzîr: A consecrated person; a Nazirite.
נָזִיר
This branch names a person marked by separation, echoing the boundary placed around the holy things.
nēzer: A diadem or crown; consecration.
נֵזֶר
The root can describe a visible mark of what is set apart, adding a sense of identity to the verse’s separation.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s name is kept holy or profaned through the way it is borne and treated among others.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.THE THREAD
And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.The same root for setting apart that marks the holy things and the holy name in Leviticus appears in the word rendered “HOLINESS” here. In Exodus, set-apartness is literally borne on the priest’s body, opening the link between the Name and the people handling what is sacred.
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