What Does Leviticus 22:21 Mean in the King James?

And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.

Leviticus 22:21 · 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

What is offered as wholeness must itself be whole: shelamim and tamim place the same idea in the gift’s name and condition.

THE MEANING

Whether the offering answers a vow or is freely given, its acceptance is joined to its being whole and without defect. The name of the peace offering and the word describing its condition both carry the language of wholeness.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the assumption that sincerity alone makes any gift acceptable: here, acceptance is bound to the offering’s unblemished condition.

THE ROOT

שְׁלָמִים

shelamim

GROWS FROM

ש־ל־ם

sh-l-m

To be whole or complete; to bring something to completion.

The word translated “peace offerings” belongs to the root that carries the sense of wholeness and completion. The offering’s name holds more than calm or the absence of conflict: it names a gift associated with wholeness.

ALSO GROWS

shalom: Wholeness, well-being

שָׁלוֹם

This familiar branch shows why “peace” here carries the wider sense of wholeness.

shalem: Whole, complete

שָׁלֵם

This adjective makes the root’s sense of completeness plain beside the requirement that the offering be without defect.

shillem: To repay, make good, or fulfill an obligation

שִׁלֵּם

This branch echoes the vow in the verse: the root can also describe bringing a due obligation to completion.

תָּמִים

tamim

GROWS FROM

ת־מ־ם

t-m-m

To be complete, whole, or sound.

Here “perfect” describes an animal that is sound and without defect. The same root can describe integrity in a person, so the word-family joins the condition of the offering to the idea of wholeness.

ALSO GROWS

tom: Integrity, completeness

תֹּם

This noun brings out the root’s sense of wholeness beneath the offering’s required soundness.

tam: Whole, blameless; also plain or simple

תָּם

This related form can describe a person as upright or whole, showing that the root extends beyond the physical condition of an animal.

THE PATTERN

Scripture carries the language of wholeness from an unblemished offering into a whole way of standing before God.

Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

Deuteronomy 18:13 · KJV“Perfect” uses the language of being whole, carrying the same idea from the offering into a person’s life before God.

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

1 Peter 1:19 · KJVThe image of an offering without blemish appears again, with its soundness made explicit.

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 9:14 · KJVThe offering without spot returns as a pattern of giving that is whole and unblemished.

THE THREAD

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Genesis 17:1 · KJV

The word translated “perfect” in Genesis is ⁨תָּמִים⁩ (tamim), the same word that describes the offering’s required condition here. Its root carries wholeness from the condition of a gift into the description of a whole life before God.

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