What Does Leviticus 23:37 Mean in the King James?
These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:
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 feasts are appointed encounters, and the same call-root turns their proclamation into a gathering.
THE MEANING
For you now, the verse presents sacred attention as a rhythm: appointed days are proclaimed as gatherings, and each act of giving belongs to its day. Devotion takes a shared, spoken, and concrete form.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the sacred is only private and untimed: here it has a spoken announcement, a shared gathering, and an appointed day.
THE ROOT
מוֹעֲדֵי
mōʿădê
GROWS FROM
יעד
appoint, designate, set a time
“feasts” in this verse is mōʿădê. The word carries the sense of appointed times or meetings. The closing phrase “every thing upon his day” echoes that appointment: the gathering and its offerings belong to a defined time.
ALSO GROWS
moʿed: appointed time, meeting
מוֹעֵד
This singular form shows the appointed encounter carried by “feasts.”
yaʿad: appoint, designate
יָעַד
The verb reveals that these times are set apart by appointment.
תִּקְרְאוּ
tiqreʾu
GROWS FROM
קרא
call, summon, proclaim, read aloud
“proclaim” in this verse is tiqreʾu. The word translated “convocations” comes from this same call-root. English separates the proclamation from the gathering, while Hebrew links the call with the assembly it summons.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: convocation, called gathering
מִקְרָא
This is the word behind “convocations,” linking the public proclamation to the people gathered.
qoreʾ: one who calls or reads
קוֹרֵא
This participle carries the same act of calling that gives the gathering its name.
לְהַקְרִיב
lehaqriv
GROWS FROM
קרב
approach, draw near
The verb beneath “offer” also carries the sense of drawing near. The listed offerings are therefore acts of approach, each placed within the appointed gathering and day.
ALSO GROWS
qorbān: a drawing near
קָרְבָּן
This related noun makes the approach within the offering-language visible.
qarōv: near
קָרוֹב
This branch shows the root’s spatial sense of nearness beneath the act of offering.
THE PATTERN
Shared encounter takes shape through appointed gathering and a concrete response in its time.
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.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
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.Here “proclaim” is תִּקְרְאוּ (tiqreʾu, “you call or proclaim”), and “convocations” is מִקְרָא (miqra, “called gathering”), both from קרא (qara, “call, proclaim, read”). That shared root joins the feast’s announcement to the gathering; verse 37 adds the offerings assigned to each day.
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