What Does Leviticus 22:3 Mean in the King James?
Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: 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
Approaching what is set apart is not neutral: when uncleanness is upon the one drawing near, the verse names separation from before the LORD.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you at the boundary of approach: when uncleanness is upon the one drawing near to what is set apart, that person is cut off from before the LORD. The consequence is stated plainly, and “I am the LORD” grounds the boundary in the speaker’s own identity.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that drawing near makes what clings to a person irrelevant.
THE ROOT
יִקְרַב
yiqrav
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
q-r-b
Draw near; approach.
“goeth unto” in this verse is yiqrav. English makes this sound like ordinary movement, but יִקְרַב (yiqrav, draws near) shares its root with קָרְבָּן (qorbān, an offering understood as a drawing near). The verse frames approaching what is set apart as consequential nearness, not merely a change of location.
ALSO GROWS
qorbān: An offering; drawing near.
קָרְבָּן
This branch joins approach and offering in one root, revealing how the verse’s act of going near belongs to the language of drawing near.
qarov: Near; close.
קָרוֹב
The root also names nearness as a state, so the approach here concerns closeness to the LORD, not motion alone.
הַקֳּדָשִׁים
haqqodashim
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־ש
q-d-sh
Set apart; reserve for a sacred purpose.
“holy things; hallow” in this verse is haqqodashim. English gives “holy things” and “hallow” as different religious terms, but both grow from ק־ד־ש (q-d-sh, set apart). The verse repeats the same seed for the things and for the act that sets them apart to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Set-apartness; what is set apart.
קֹדֶשׁ
This noun names the quality shared by the things the verse says a person approaches.
qadosh: Set apart.
קָדוֹשׁ
This form names the state created by the act of setting apart, tying the verse’s hallowing to the things’ distinct status.
וְנִכְרְתָה
wenikhretah
GROWS FROM
כ־ר־ת
k-r-t
Cut; sever.
“cut off” in this verse is wenikhretah. The root keeps the consequence concrete: the person is severed from before the LORD. Elsewhere it appears in כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berit, cut a covenant) and סֵפֶר כְּרִיתֻת (sefer keritut, certificate of divorce), where a cut marks a binding or broken relation.
ALSO GROWS
karat berit: Cut a covenant.
כָּרַת בְּרִית
This phrase preserves the root’s force of cutting in a binding relation, sharpening the relational weight of being cut off from before the LORD.
sefer keritut: Certificate of divorce; document of severance.
סֵפֶר כְּרִיתֻת
Here the root marks a severed bond, echoing the separation named in this verse.
THE PATTERN
Approach to what is set apart is bounded by whether defilement remains on the one approaching.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.THE THREAD
Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.“Come nigh” uses בִּקְרֹבַי (biqrovay, those near me), from ק־ר־ב (q-r-b, draw near); “sanctified” uses אֶקָּדֵשׁ (eqaddesh, be set apart), from ק־ד־ש (q-d-sh, set apart). Those are the same two roots behind “goeth unto” and “hallow” here, pairing nearness and set-apartness at the boundary the verse names.
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