What Does Leviticus 27:4 Mean in the King James?

And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.

Leviticus 27:4 · 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 verse names a female’s valuation as thirty shekels, and its Hebrew word for valuation carries the sense of setting something into an ordered measure.

THE MEANING

The verse states a female’s formal valuation as thirty shekels. Its blunt, counted amount puts the act of assigning value directly before you.

THE ROOT

עֶרְכְּךָ

ʿerkekha

GROWS FROM

ע־ר־ךְ

ʿ-r-k

Arrange, set in order; by extension, establish a valuation.

English “estimation” can sound like a private opinion. The root carries the sense of arranging and setting something in order, so the verse presents a fixed, structured valuation: thirty shekels.

ALSO GROWS

ʿārakh: Arrange; set in order.

עָרַךְ

This verb shows the ordering sense beneath the valuation: the amount is formally set, not left vague.

maʿărākhāh: An array; an ordered formation.

מַעֲרָכָה

The same root describes something laid out in an arrangement, echoing the verse’s fixed, countable measure.

שֶׁקֶל

sheqel

GROWS FROM

ש־ק־ל

sh-q-l

Weigh.

“shekels” in this verse is sheqel. A shekel is a unit of weight, from ⁨שָׁקַל⁩ (shaqal), “to weigh.” The verse’s amount therefore carries the physical sense of measured weight as well as monetary value.

ALSO GROWS

shaqal: Weigh.

שָׁקַל

Job uses this verb when he asks to be weighed, revealing the action within the word for shekel.

mishqal: Weight; a measure of weight.

מִשְׁקָל

This related noun names weight itself, reinforcing that the verse gives its valuation in a tangible measure.

THE PATTERN

Scripture makes assigned valuation visible by naming a concrete price or weight.

And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

Leviticus 27:3 · KJVThe preceding verse gives another fixed valuation, making the assigned amounts explicit.

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

Luke 12:6 · KJVThe verse names a market price, then says that price does not mean a sparrow is forgotten.

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 6:20 · KJVThe verse makes a price the stated measure through which a claim of belonging is expressed.

THE THREAD

Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.

Job 31:6 · KJV

⁨שֶׁקֶל⁩ (sheqel, “a shekel, a weight”) belongs to ⁨שָׁקַל⁩ (shaqal, “to weigh”), the root behind Job’s ⁨יִשְׁקְלֵנִי⁩ (yishqelēnî, “let him weigh me”). That shared root makes the thirty shekels a tangible measure of weight as well as a monetary valuation.

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