What Does Leviticus 3:6 Mean in the King James?

And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the LORD be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.

Leviticus 3:6 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The peace offering is named for wholeness, and what it presents must itself be whole.

THE MEANING

This offering is called a shelamim (⁨שְׁלָמִים⁩, wholeness offering), and its animal is to be tamim (⁨תָּמִים⁩, whole and sound). The verse holds the name and the animal’s condition together: wholeness takes a visible, undamaged form here.

THE ROOT

שְׁלָמִים

shelamim

GROWS FROM

שלם

sh-l-m

To be whole or complete, and to make whole.

“peace offering” in this verse is shelamim. The word carries more than quiet between enemies: it names wholeness and well-being. The offering’s name speaks of a complete state, a meaning echoed by the requirement that the animal itself be whole.

ALSO GROWS

shalom: Wholeness, well-being, peace

שָׁלוֹם

This branch shows the broad sense carried by the offering’s name: well-being that is whole.

shalem: Whole, complete

שָׁלֵם

This branch makes the link between the offering’s name and the animal’s required condition explicit.

תָּמִים

tamim

GROWS FROM

תמם

t-m-m

To be complete, whole, or sound.

“without blemish” in this verse is tamim. The word makes the requirement concrete: the animal is to be sound, without defect. Its root also gives words for integrity and completeness, placing the physical condition within a wider language of wholeness.

ALSO GROWS

tom: Integrity, completeness

תֹּם

This branch shows that the root’s sense of wholeness can describe integrity as well as soundness.

tamam: To be complete or finished

תָּמַם

This verbal form carries the same movement toward completeness named by the requirement for a tamim animal.

THE PATTERN

An offering that signifies wholeness is specified as whole and without blemish.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

Exodus 12:5 · KJVThe lamb brought for the Passover is likewise required to be without blemish.

And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.

Leviticus 22:21 · KJVIt uses ⁨תָּמִים⁩ (tamim, whole and sound) for “perfect,” then explicitly excludes blemish.

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

1 Peter 1:19 · KJVThe image of an offering without defect carries the same pattern into the New Testament.

THE THREAD

And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.

Leviticus 22:21 · KJV

The word translated “perfect” is ⁨תָּמִים⁩ (tamim, whole and sound), the same word used here for “without blemish.” The shared word ties the offering of wholeness directly to the whole condition of what is offered.

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