What Does Leviticus 4:23 Mean in the King James?
Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:
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
Here, when the missing becomes known, drawing near takes bodily form in an unblemished male goat.
THE MEANING
When your missing comes to your knowledge, the verse gives that recognition an embodied consequence: an unblemished male goat is brought as an offering. The act is costly, and the animal remains present in the meaning rather than dissolving into an idea.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Seeing the missing is not yet the completed response; this verse places a concrete, costly offering after recognition.
THE ROOT
קָרְבָּנוֹ
qorbānô
GROWS FROM
קרב
Approach; come near.
The word translated “offering” is built from the root for coming near. English can make it sound like a gift handed over, while the Hebrew also carries the sense of an approach made tangible.
ALSO GROWS
qārôb: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
The shared root connects the offering with nearness: what is brought is also a movement toward.
qirvāh: Nearness, proximity.
קִרְבָה
This branch makes the relational sense of the offering audible: it draws near.
חַטָּאתוֹ
ḥaṭṭāʾtô
GROWS FROM
חטא
Miss; err.
“sin; sinned” in this verse is ḥaṭṭāʾtô. English makes “sin” and “sinned” look like separate forms, while Hebrew repeats the same seed in both. The verse holds the missing and the act of missing together, then places them at the moment they come into awareness.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: To miss, err.
חָטָא
This is the verb behind “hath sinned,” sharing its root with the noun for the missing.
ḥēṭʾ: A missing, an error.
חֵטְא
This noun shows the concrete sense beneath the English word “sin.”
הוֹדַע
hôdaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
Know, perceive by encounter.
“come to his knowledge; be made known to him” in this verse is hôdaʿ. The wording is a causative form of yādaʿ: the missing is made known to the person. The verse turns when the miss enters awareness, and the next motion is to bring the offering near.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: To know, perceive by encounter.
יָדַע
This is the root verb behind the phrase “come to his knowledge.”
daʿat: Knowledge, perception.
דַּעַת
This noun keeps knowledge connected to the act of knowing, rather than to information alone.
THE PATTERN
When the missing is made known, it moves from concealment into a response with real consequence.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.THE THREAD
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.Psalm 32:5 repeats both roots: the speaker makes the missing known with yādaʿ (יָדַע, yādaʿ, know, perceive by encounter) and names it with ḥaṭṭāʾt (חַטָּאת, ḥaṭṭāʾt, missing). Leviticus joins that recognition to a qorbān (קָרְבָּן, qorbān, drawing-near offering); Psalm carries the movement into open speech and release.
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