What Does Leviticus 3:4 Mean in the King James?
And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.
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 same Hebrew word translated here as “kidneys” appears elsewhere as “reins,” letting a hidden organ name the inward self.
THE MEANING
The offering’s hidden interior is named precisely: both kidneys, the fat over them, and the lobe above the liver are taken away. What lies beneath the visible surface is part of the act itself.
THE ROOT
כְּלָיוֹת
kelayot
GROWS FROM
כ־ל־י
k-l-y
Kidney or reins: the hidden inner organs, which biblical poetry also uses for the inward self.
English separates “kidneys” from “reins,” but both render the Hebrew word kelayot. The verse names literal organs while carrying a second resonance: what is concealed within is named as part of the offering.
ALSO GROWS
kilyah: Kidney; the singular form of the organ named here in the plural.
כִּלְיָה
It anchors the verse’s plural “kidneys” in a specific, physical part of the body.
kelayot: Kidneys; rendered “reins” in biblical poetry.
כִּלְיוֹת
In Psalm 139:13, this same word names the inward parts that God possesses and covers in the womb.
THE PATTERN
What is offered or known reaches inward, beyond what is visible on the surface.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.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
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.The “kidneys” in Leviticus and the “reins” in this Psalm translate the same Hebrew word, kelayot. The offering names those hidden organs; the Psalm speaks of those same inward parts as held by God and covered in the womb.
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