What Does Leviticus 23:25 Mean in the King James?
Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire 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 verse pairs the stopping of service-labor with an offering whose root means drawing near.
THE MEANING
The day sets a boundary around service-labor, then commands an offering to be brought near to the LORD. Its pause is not sheer emptiness: ordinary work ceases while approach remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that setting work aside means doing nothing: this day pairs the restraint of labor with an offering brought near.
THE ROOT
וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם
vehiqravtem
GROWS FROM
קרב
to approach, come near, or bring near
The verb translated “offer” literally carries the movement of bringing near. The offering is not only an object presented; its wording makes it an act of approach.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: near, close
קָרוֹב
The shared root makes nearness part of the word-family behind “offer.”
qorban: offering, that which is brought near
קָרְבָּן
This noun makes explicit the approach already present in the verse’s verb.
עֲבֹדָה
avodah
GROWS FROM
עבד
to work or serve
“Servile work” belongs to the Hebrew word-family of work and service. The verse names that labor as what ceases, while its next verb names drawing near as what continues.
ALSO GROWS
avad: to work, serve
עָבַד
The verb shows the action held inside the word translated “work.”
eved: servant
עֶבֶד
This branch reveals the service-language beneath the phrase “servile work.”
THE PATTERN
Set-apart time joins a boundary around ordinary work with an act of offering to God.
Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.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 Hebrew verb translated “offer” here comes from קרב (qarab), “to bring near,” the same root as the verb in Leviticus 23:25. That root lets the two verses speak of offering as approach: labor stops, while something is brought near to the LORD.
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