What Does Leviticus 4:13 Mean in the King James?
And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;
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
What the whole community cannot see can still implicate the whole community.
THE MEANING
A whole community can carry an error that remains outside its shared awareness. The lack of recognition does not make the act unreal; the community is still answerable for what it has done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Not knowing about a wrong does not mean it has no effect or belongs to no one.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁגּוּ
yishgu
GROWS FROM
שגה
To stray or err, including by inadvertence; the root שָׁגָה (shagah) pictures losing the way.
“sin through ignorance” in this verse is yishgu. The Hebrew names the congregation’s act with a verb for straying or erring. It connects the hidden wrongdoing to a loss of the way that can happen before the community recognizes it.
ALSO GROWS
shegi'ah: An error or mistake
שְׁגִיאָה
Psalm 19:12 uses this related form for errors a person may not understand, linking the congregation’s unrecognized act to the limits of anyone’s own perception.
shagah: To stray or err
שָׁגָה
This verb makes the movement in the verse clearer: the community has wandered from the commandment, even while the error remains unseen.
וְנֶעְלַם
veneʿlam
GROWS FROM
עלם
To be hidden or concealed from view; the form וְנֶעְלַם (veneʿlam) means “and it is hidden.”
“be hid” in this verse is veneʿlam. The wording presents the matter as hidden from the assembly’s eyes, not as something that never happened. Hiddenness and error sit together in the verse, followed by the statement that the congregation is answerable.
ALSO GROWS
neʿlam: Hidden or concealed
נֶעְלָם
This form describes the matter’s absence from shared awareness, which the verse holds alongside the community’s responsibility.
heʿlim: To conceal or hide
הֶעְלִים
The related causative form shows the same root can name the act of making something hidden as well as the state of being hidden.
THE PATTERN
An unrecognized act can still affect the whole community that carries it.
Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?THE THREAD
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.Psalm 19:12 uses a related form of שגה (shagah) for errors a person may not understand, then speaks of faults hidden from view. It connects the congregation’s unseen straying to the reader’s own unrecognized errors.
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