What Does Leviticus 27:18 Mean in the King James?
But if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.
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
Jubilee makes consecrated value time-bound: what is set apart is still measured by how much time remains before release.
THE MEANING
A field set apart after Jubilee is assessed by the years left until the next Jubilee. The priest deducts from its valuation to match that remaining term. Setting the field apart does not suspend its value from the cycle of return.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that setting something apart fixes its value permanently: its assessed worth still changes with the time left before Jubilee.
THE ROOT
וְנִגְרַע
venigraʿ
GROWS FROM
גרע
gāraʿ
To diminish or subtract.
“abated” in this verse is venigraʿ. The deduction is not a separate penalty; it is a subtraction from the estimate itself. The field remains set apart, while its assessed value decreases according to the time left before release.
ALSO GROWS
tigraʿu: You shall diminish or subtract
תִּגְרְעוּ
Deuteronomy 4:2 uses this form for diminishing nothing from the command; here the same root names a required reduction in valuation.
tigraʿ: You shall diminish or subtract
תִּגְרַע
Deuteronomy 12:32 uses this form for not diminishing from what is commanded, showing the root’s concrete sense of taking away from a measured whole.
יַקְדִּישׁ
yaqdish
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
qādash
To set apart as sacred.
“sanctify” in this verse is yaqdish. The field is set apart, yet its value remains within the Jubilee cycle. The root holds consecration and separation together without making the field’s material worth timeless.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart
קָדוֹשׁ
This describes the status of something marked as distinct, clarifying what it means for the field to be sanctified.
miqdash: A set-apart place; sanctuary
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary carries the same root, linking the field’s designation to the wider language of what is reserved as sacred.
הַנֹּתָרֹת
hanotarot
GROWS FROM
יתר
yāthar
To remain over, be left as a remainder.
“remain” in this verse is hanotarot. The years are reckoned as what remains in the cycle, and that remainder shapes the estimate. The root also carries the sense of surplus, making the calculation turn on what is still left before return.
ALSO GROWS
yoter: More; remaining or extra
יוֹתֵר
This form makes the idea of what remains visible in the calculation of years still left.
yitron: Surplus; advantage
יִתְרוֹן
The related noun names what is left over, echoing the verse’s focus on the portion of the Jubilee cycle still available.
THE PATTERN
Where release restores what is held, claims are measured by the remaining interval and lose their hold as return draws near.
According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,THE THREAD
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.The Hebrew root גרע (gāraʿ, “diminish or subtract”) appears in both verses. Deuteronomy forbids subtraction from the command; here subtraction is the precise measure that brings the field’s valuation into line with the years left.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us