What Does Leviticus 25:48 Mean in the King James?
After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him:
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
A sale can transfer a person’s status without severing the kinship that makes reclaiming him possible.
THE MEANING
The verse holds sale and redemption together: he is sold, and a way to reclaim him remains open. His condition does not erase his relation to his brothers; one of them can bring him back from the transfer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that once someone is handed over, they are beyond anyone’s claim or recovery.
THE ROOT
גְּאֻלָּה
ge'ullah
GROWS FROM
גאל
To reclaim or redeem, especially through a kinship claim.
“redeemed” in this verse is ge'ullah. The verse uses this root twice: ge’ullah names the redemption that remains available to him, and yig’alennu says that a brother can carry it out. The same seed holds both the open path back and the person who acts on it.
ALSO GROWS
go'el: Kinsman-redeemer; one who reclaims.
גֹּאֵל
This branch names the family member who can act on the claim left open for the sold man.
ge'ullah: Redemption or reclamation.
גְּאֻלָּה
This is the form used in the verse: redemption remains available to him even after the sale.
THE PATTERN
Redemption restores a person to belonging that bondage or sale has obscured.
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.THE THREAD
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:Leviticus uses גאל for both the redemption available to the sold man and the brother who may enact it. Exodus uses the same root for redemption from bondage, revealing the shared movement from imposed service toward reclamation.
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