What Does Leviticus 5:15 Mean in the King James?
If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass 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
Even an unseen breach is treated as a real breach of trust, and its repair is measured rather than vague.
THE MEANING
A blind spot does not make a breach weightless. When you violate what is set apart for God without knowing, this verse makes repair tangible: an unblemished ram is brought, and its value is reckoned in silver by the sanctuary measure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If I did not mean to violate what is sacred, there is nothing to repair.
THE ROOT
מַעַל
ma'al
GROWS FROM
מעל
To act treacherously, deal unfaithfully, or breach a trust.
The verse repeats this root in its verb and noun, intensifying the breach as an act of violated trust. The word carries the sense of unfaithfulness alongside trespass, showing that what is set apart has been mishandled as a trust.
ALSO GROWS
me'ilah: Sacrilege; violation of what is sacred.
מְעִילָה
This branch names a breach involving sacred things, illuminating why the verse focuses on what is set apart to the LORD.
ma'al: Treachery; unfaithfulness.
מַעַל
This noun names the breach of trust beneath the English boundary-crossing image of trespass.
מִקָּדְשֵׁי
miqqodshei
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart or consecrate.
“holy things” in this verse is miqqodshei. The breach concerns things set apart to the LORD, so the root gives the offense a concrete object and relationship. The same root forms the word for sanctuary, linking the sacred things to the place set apart for them.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; consecrated.
קָדוֹשׁ
This branch expresses the status of the things whose misuse the verse addresses.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
This branch connects the set-apart things in the verse with the sanctuary measure used to value the offering.
THE PATTERN
A breach that carries material cost calls for material repair.
If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.THE THREAD
If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;The same Hebrew root for trespass appears here, describing a breach against the LORD alongside deception about a neighbor’s property. It shows how the breach in Leviticus 5:15 can touch both what is set apart for God and what is entrusted between people.
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