What Does Leviticus 4:3 Mean in the King James?
If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.
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 anointed priest’s miss reaches beyond him: it brings guilt upon the people and calls for a costly approach to the LORD.
THE MEANING
When you carry a role others rely on, your missing can reach beyond you; being set apart to that role does not make you immune. The verse names a tangible response: an unblemished young bull is brought to the LORD for the missing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sacred role makes my failures private and consequence-free.
THE ROOT
יֶחֱטָא
yecheta
GROWS FROM
חטא
To miss or fail; here, to sin.
The root חטא (chata, to miss) also forms חַטָּאת (chatat, sin or sin offering). The same word family names both the failure and the offering brought in response, holding the missing and its repair together.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss, fail, or sin.
חָטָא
This is the verb describing the priest’s failure; it carries the concrete sense of missing.
chatat: Sin; also a sin offering.
חַטָּאת
The verse uses this same word family for the offering, joining the missed mark to the response.
וְהִקְרִיב
vehiqriv
GROWS FROM
קרב
To come near or draw near.
The word translated “bring” is a form of קָרַב (qarav, to draw near). The act is described through nearness: the offering is brought toward the LORD as a response to the failure.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: To draw near or approach.
קָרַב
This verb is the root sense behind bringing the offering forward.
qorban: An offering; that which is brought near.
קָרְבָּן
It makes explicit the connection between an offering and an approach.
הַמָּשִׁיחַ
ha-mashiach
GROWS FROM
משח
To smear or apply oil; to anoint.
מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach, anointed one) names the priest by the mark of his role, yet that status does not prevent him from missing. The role carries responsibility along with its setting apart.
ALSO GROWS
mashiach: Anointed one.
מָשִׁיחַ
The verse calls the priest anointed, identifying a role that does not exempt him from the passage’s claim.
mishchah: Anointing oil or anointing.
מִשְׁחָה
This branch names the act and substance that mark the priest as anointed.
THE PATTERN
Those entrusted to stand before others remain accountable for how their role affects the people.
Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.THE THREAD
And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing:The same root חטא (chata, to miss) appears in “hath sinned.” Here the priest’s missing calls for an offering; there the guilty person names the miss aloud, keeping acknowledgment and response joined.
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