What Does Leviticus 22:8 Mean in the King James?
That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: 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
At this table, how life leaves the animal remains part of what the eater receives.
THE MEANING
The verse draws a boundary around what the body receives: an animal that dies on its own or is torn by beasts is not treated as ordinary food. Eating it makes the eater unclean; the condition of the flesh matters even after it becomes food. “I am the LORD” grounds that boundary in the speaker’s authority.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie it undoes is that anything edible is neutral once it reaches the table; here, the source and condition of the flesh still matter.
THE ROOT
לְטָמְאָה
letam’ah
GROWS FROM
טמא
Be or become unclean; be ritually impure.
“defile” in this verse is letam’ah. Here, טָמֵא (ṭāmēʾ, unclean) names a condition that eating brings upon the person, not a judgment about the eater’s motive. The root shows that what is received can change the eater’s ritual status.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāmēʾ: Unclean; in a state of impurity.
טָמֵא
It names the condition the eater enters through eating the carcass.
ṭum’ah: Uncleanness; impurity.
טֻמְאָה
It gives the condition a name of its own, showing that the verse concerns a status carried by the act, not merely the animal’s appearance.
טְרֵפָה
terefah
GROWS FROM
טרף
Tear or seize as prey.
“torn with beasts” in this verse is terefah. The word retains the animal’s violent end in its name: this is flesh identified by how it was taken. The verse treats the way the flesh became available as part of what the eater receives.
ALSO GROWS
taraph: To tear or seize as prey.
טָרַף
It names the violence behind the description “torn with beasts.”
teref: Prey; food taken as prey.
טֶרֶף
It links the torn animal with food, revealing that being edible does not erase how it came to be eaten.
THE PATTERN
Scripture marks what is received at the table by the life and conditions attached to it.
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.THE THREAD
And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean.This verse repeats the same carcass categories, then calls the eater טָמֵא (ṭāmēʾ, unclean), from טמא (ṭ-m-ʾ, be unclean), the root behind “defile” here. Its washing and evening boundary show uncleanness as a condition one can enter and then leave.
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