What Does Leviticus 23:30 Mean in the King James?

And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.

Leviticus 23:30 · KJV

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 verb beneath “destroy” carries the language of perishing and being lost, and here that loss is a living person’s place among the people.

THE MEANING

On the day set apart for atonement, any work brings God’s stated judgment: the living person is destroyed from among the people. The repeated word nefesh names the living person twice, binding that person’s life to belonging in the community.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It overturns the belief that work is harmless on every day: even one act of work on this day carries the stated consequence of being destroyed from among the people.

THE ROOT

וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי

veha'avadti

GROWS FROM

אבד

Perish, be lost; in the causative form here, cause to perish or destroy.

“destroy” in this verse is veha'avadti. The root also carries the sense of being lost or perishing. Here its causative form places that loss under God’s action, while “from among his people” names its communal edge.

ALSO GROWS

ʾābad: Perish, be lost.

אָבַד

Psalm 1:6 uses this same root for the way of the ungodly that perishes, placing this judgment within a broader language of loss.

ʾōvēd: One perishing, one near ruin.

אֹבֵד

Deuteronomy 26:5 calls Jacob “a Syrian ready to perish,” using the root for a person in danger of loss as well as for judgment.

THE PATTERN

A set-apart rest is marked by the cessation of ordinary work, so continuing work crosses the boundary of the day.

And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:

Leviticus 16:29 · KJVIt places the command to do no work within the same day of self-affliction and extends it to everyone among the people.

Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Exodus 31:14 · KJVIt gives the Sabbath boundary a similarly severe form: doing work carries the stated consequence of being cut off from the people.

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Hebrews 4:10 · KJVIt describes entering rest through ceasing from one’s own works, echoing the verse’s link between set-apart time and stopped labor.

THE THREAD

For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 1:6 · KJV

“Perish” in Psalm 1:6 uses the same Hebrew root ⁨אבד⁩ as “destroy” here, though its subject is the way of the ungodly. Leviticus places that loss on a person and names the resulting separation from the people.

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