What Does Leviticus 4:30 Mean in the King James?

And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar.

Leviticus 4:30 · 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 altar is named from the act of slaughter, so the blood’s precise route across its horns and base belongs to the altar’s meaning.

THE MEANING

Here, the offering for the missing is handled in the open: blood is placed on the altar’s horns, and all the rest is poured out at its base. The verse keeps the act embodied and exact, with no blood abstracted away.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the idea that the missing can be dealt with while its cost stays invisible: blood is placed, and all the rest is poured out.

THE ROOT

יִשְׁפֹּךְ

yishpōkh

GROWS FROM

שפך

To pour out, spill, or shed.

“pour out” in this verse is yishpōkh. The same three-letter root names blood emptied at an altar, bloodshed, and a heart opened before God. Here, the blood is first placed on the altar and then all of it is poured out, keeping the physical act fully in view.

ALSO GROWS

shifkhu levavkhem: Pour out your heart.

שִׁפְכוּ לְבַבְכֶם

Psalm 62:8 uses the same root for inward disclosure, showing that the verb can name both bodily outpouring and an opened heart.

shofekh dam: One who sheds blood.

שֹׁפֵךְ דָּם

Genesis 9:6 uses this root for bloodshed, preserving its stark physical force.

מִזְבֵּחַ

mizbeach

GROWS FROM

זבח

To slaughter or sacrifice.

The Hebrew name for the altar grows from the verb for slaughtering or sacrificing. The blood placed on its horns and poured at its base belongs to the act named by the altar itself.

ALSO GROWS

zevach: Sacrifice or slaughter offering.

זֶבַח

This noun shares the altar’s root and makes the connection between the place and the act explicit.

zoveach: One who sacrifices.

זֹבֵחַ

The same root names the person performing the act, linking the altar, the offering, and the one who brings it.

THE PATTERN

The language of outpouring carries what is within into full view, whether blood, the heart, or a gift given to all flesh.

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Psalm 62:8 · KJVThe same Hebrew root ⁨שָׁפַךְ⁩ (shafakh, pour out) used for the blood here also names the heart opened before God.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Joel 2:28 · KJVThe same Hebrew root describes ruach (⁨רוּחַ⁩, ruach, breath) being poured across all flesh, carrying the verb from blood at the altar to a gift made widely present.

Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Luke 22:20 · KJVThe Greek root ⁨ἐκχέω⁩ (ekcheō, pour out) appears as “shed” for the blood, keeping the physical outpouring visible in the cup’s covenant image.

THE THREAD

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Psalm 62:8 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨שָׁפַךְ⁩ (shafakh, to pour out) names both the blood poured at the altar and the heart poured out in this verse. That shared verb keeps the blood’s bodily cost intact while opening another sense of outpouring: inward life made unguarded before God.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us