What Does Leviticus 5:10 Mean in the King James?

And he shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.
Leviticus 5:10 · 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 verse’s hidden sequence is that a specific missing is met with covering, and covering opens into release.

A real wrong is named, but it does not have the final word: the offering is given as a burnt offering, the priest makes covering for the person, and release follows. The verse holds the cost and the forgiveness together, leaving the wrong acknowledged without making it a permanent bond over the person.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie this undoes is that a real wrong must keep the person permanently bound to it.

וְכִפֶּר

ve-khipper

GROWS FROM

כפר

Cover; make atonement.

The priest’s atonement belongs to the root of covering, making the offering’s role concrete. The verse then pairs that covering with release, so the movement reaches beyond the act to the person.

ALSO GROWS

kippēr: Cover; make atonement.

כִּפֶּר

This verb is the same root in action, showing that atonement here is a covering made for the person.

kappōret: The cover of the ark, often rendered “mercy seat.”

כַּפֹּרֶת

The shared root gives the covering in this verse a tangible counterpart elsewhere in the language.

חַטָּאת

ḥaṭṭā’t

GROWS FROM

חטא

Miss; miss the mark.

The word translated “sin” carries the language of a missing. The verse names what has gone wrong while its final clause distinguishes the person from that wrong by naming release.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāṭāʾ: To miss, or to do wrong.

חָטָא

This verb shows the root’s action: the person has missed the mark.

ḥēṭʾ: A missing or wrong.

חֵטְא

This noun keeps the sense of a particular failure beneath the broader English word “sin.”

וְנִסְלַח

ve-nislaḥ

GROWS FROM

סלח

Forgive, pardon; release.

“forgiven” in this verse is ve-nislaḥ. The final word describes what happens to the person after the covering is made: release. The wrong remains named, but it no longer holds the person in the same way.

ALSO GROWS

sālaḥ: To forgive or pardon.

סָלַח

This is the verb behind the verse’s promise that the person is forgiven.

seliḥāh: Forgiveness or pardon.

סְלִיחָה

The related noun carries the same movement from wrong toward release.

A named wrong is met with covering or cleansing, and release follows.

A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psalm 32:1 · KJVForgiveness and covering appear together, echoing the movement from atonement to release.
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 6:7 · KJVThe image changes, but the pattern remains: the wrong is named, then taken away and cleansed.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 · KJVThe wrong is spoken into the open, and forgiveness is joined to cleansing.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Psalm 103:3 · KJV

Leviticus’s “it shall be forgiven” and the psalm’s “forgiveth” share the Hebrew root ⁨סלח⁩ (sālaḥ), meaning to pardon or release. In the psalm, that release stands beside healing, opening forgiveness toward a wider picture of restoration.

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Leviticus 5:10 KJV Meaning