What Does Leviticus 23:18 Mean in the King James?
And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto 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
The word translated “offer” means “draw near,” while the burnt offering is named for what rises.
THE MEANING
This verse makes nearness tangible through specified animals, a meal offering, and drink offerings brought before the LORD. The burnt offering rises in fire as an aroma described as pleasing to the LORD.
THE ROOT
וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם
vehiqravtem
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
To approach or draw near.
The verb translated “offer” carries the motion of bringing near. Its root links the act of offering with nearness itself: what is offered is brought toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qorbān: Offering; a gift or act of drawing near.
קָרְבָּן
This noun makes explicit the nearness already carried by the verse’s verb “offer.”
qarov: Near; close.
קָרוֹב
The same root describes closeness, showing that offering and nearness share a word-family.
עֹלָה
ʿolah
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To go up, rise, or ascend.
“burnt offering” in this verse is ʿolah. The offering’s name comes from the language of rising. Beside “draw near,” it gives the verse a paired movement: what is brought toward the LORD rises in fire.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: To go up or ascend.
עָלָה
This verb shares the root of “burnt offering,” making ascent part of the word’s underlying image.
ʿaliyyah: Ascent; going up.
עֲלִיָּה
This noun keeps the root’s upward movement visible alongside the offering that rises.
THE PATTERN
What is brought near becomes an embodied offering, and what is offered rises before God.
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.THE THREAD
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.The verbs translated “offer” come from קרב (qarab), meaning “draw near,” and the “burnt sacrifice” is עֹלָה (ʿolah), from the root “rise.” Leviticus 1:3 makes the same movements visible: what is brought near is given as an offering that rises.
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