What Does Leviticus 4:26 Mean in the King James?
And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.
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, atonement is named as covering the missing, and the verse ends with the person released.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a person’s missing in view and names covering as the act made for them; it ends in release. All the fat is burned in the same pattern as the wholeness offerings, placing the addressing of missing beside wholeness. The person is not reduced to the missing the verse names.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a named failure makes release impossible: here, covering and release follow the naming of the missing.
THE ROOT
וְכִפֶּר
ve-khipper
GROWS FROM
כפר
Cover; make a covering.
“make an atonement” in this verse is ve-khipper. The root makes the verse’s word for atonement tangible as covering. The action addresses the missing, and the verse’s final words describe the person being released.
ALSO GROWS
kippur: Covering; atonement.
כִּפּוּר
This ritual noun keeps the covering sense present in the word translated “atonement.”
kapporet: The cover or lid of the ark, often called the mercy seat.
כַּפֹּרֶת
This word for a physical cover shows the same root in a concrete form.
הַשְּׁלָמִים
ha-shelamim
GROWS FROM
שלם
Be whole, complete, or intact.
The offerings called “peace offerings” carry the root of wholeness. The verse places the burning of the fat for the missing alongside the pattern of wholeness offerings.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness; well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
This familiar word reveals the wholeness held within the offering’s name.
shalem: Whole; complete.
שָׁלֵם
This form makes the root’s sense of completeness explicit.
חַטָּאתוֹ
chatta'to
GROWS FROM
חטא
Miss; err.
The root gives sin the concrete shape of a miss or deviation. Here that miss is what the covering addresses, while the verse’s final clause releases the person.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss; to err.
חָטָא
The verb shows the root as an action, giving “sin” the sense of missing.
chatta't: A missing or sin; also a sin offering.
חַטָּאת
The noun connects the missing named in the verse with the offering brought in response.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly places release after a person’s missing is named and covered or cleansed.
A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.THE THREAD
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.Isaiah uses the same Hebrew root, כפר (k-p-r), in the word translated “purged” that Leviticus uses for “make an atonement.” The root links the altar’s covering here with the coal’s touch there: in both verses, a person’s missing is addressed and the verse moves to release.
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