What Does Leviticus 6:3 Mean in the King James?
Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
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
Finding a lost thing is the hinge: it can return to the truth, or be made lost again by the finder’s words.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the instant something lost is back in your hands. Its danger is no longer simply that the thing might stay missing: denial and a false oath can turn finding into a deliberate second hiding. The verse names how a lie can make possession look separated from the truth that accompanies it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A thing that was already lost is mine to keep if I can deny finding it.
THE ROOT
אֲבֵדָה
ʾăbēdāh
GROWS FROM
אבד
Perish, be lost, or go missing.
The word for a lost thing grows from the verb for perishing or going missing. That makes “found” a hinge: what had vanished is now within reach, so the question is whether its return becomes recovery or is pushed back into loss through concealment.
ALSO GROWS
ʾābad: Perish; be lost.
אָבַד
It names the condition the found thing was in before it returned to view.
ʾăbaddōn: Destruction; ruin.
אֲבַדּוֹן
This branch shows how the root can extend from being lost to disappearance, a trajectory the finder can either interrupt or deepen.
וְכִחֵשׁ
vekhichesh
GROWS FROM
כחש
Deny, disown, or deal falsely.
The Hebrew verb translated “lieth” also carries the sense of denying or disowning. The speech severs the finder from the fact of having the object; the false oath then hardens that denial.
ALSO GROWS
kiḥēsh: Denied or disowned.
כִּחֵשׁ
It reveals that the lie concerns the finder’s relation to the recovered thing, not merely a stray false statement.
kāḥash: Lie or deal falsely.
כָּחַשׁ
This form shows the same root at work as deliberate falsification.
שֶׁקֶר
sheqer
GROWS FROM
שקר
Falsehood, deceit, or a lie.
“falsely” in this verse is sheqer. The verse joins an oath to sheqer, falsehood. The oath’s solemn form cannot change the claim’s substance; it compounds the denial already present.
ALSO GROWS
sheqer: Falsehood; a lie.
שֶׁקֶר
It names the substance the oath is attached to.
shāqar: To lie or deal falsely.
שָׁקַר
The verbal branch shows falsehood as an act, not only a claim.
THE PATTERN
Truthful acknowledgment begins returning what concealment keeps lost.
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.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.Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.THE THREAD
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.Leviticus uses אֲבֵדָה (ʾăbēdāh, lost property), from אבד (ʾabad, perish or be lost); Luke uses ἀπολωλός (apolōlos, lost), from ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi, perish or lose). These are not the same etymological root, but their shared loss-language opens the movement from missing to sought; Leviticus shows how denial can push that return back into hiding.
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