What Does Leviticus 22:7 Mean in the King James?
And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things; because it is his food.
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
At sundown, the temporary boundary closes, and the set-apart portion is still called his food.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks of a bounded state: after washing, cleanness returns at evening and access to what is set apart opens again. That portion remains food, holding sacredness and bodily sustenance together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A temporary state of uncleanness means permanent exclusion from sacred provision. Here the state has an endpoint, and access returns when cleanness does.
THE ROOT
וְטָהֵר
veṭāhēr
GROWS FROM
טהר
ṭ-h-r
Be clean; become clean.
“clean” in this verse is veṭāhēr. Here, cleanness is a state that returns after a bounded interval, not an unending identity. Its return reopens access to what is set apart.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāhôr: Clean, pure.
טָהוֹר
This adjective names the cleanness that returns when the interval ends.
ṭohŏrāh: Cleanness, purity.
טָהֳרָה
This noun makes cleanness a state one can enter, which fits the verse’s movement from temporary uncleanness to restored access.
הַקֳּדָשִׁים
ha-qodashim
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; consecrate.
“holy things” in this verse is ha-qodashim. The food belongs to a set-apart category and remains food. The verse holds sacred distinction and ordinary nourishment together.
ALSO GROWS
qādôš: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
It names the quality carried by the food that becomes accessible again.
miqdāš: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The related word shows the root can mark both sacred things and sacred space.
THE PATTERN
A temporary state of uncleanness has a boundary; when cleanness returns, access opens again.
And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until the even.But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.THE THREAD
What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;This verse uses the same טהר (ṭ-h-r, be clean) root in “until he be clean,” so the pause has a stated limit. Verse 7 completes the sequence: when cleanness returns, he eats what is set apart because it is his food.
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