What Does Leviticus 6:5 Mean in the King James?
Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his 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
The offering does not absorb the debt: the principal returns to the injured person, increased by a fifth.
THE MEANING
A false oath does not make the loss disappear: the principal returns to its rightful owner with a fifth added. Here, the trespass offering remains joined to concrete repair for the person harmed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A ritual offering can erase the material claim of the person harmed.
THE ROOT
וְהֵשִׁיב
wəhēšîḇ
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
Return, turn back; in this form, bring back or restore.
The verb translated “restore” carries the sense of bringing something back to where it belongs. The verse makes that return concrete: the principal goes back to its rightful owner, and the added fifth makes the repair measurable.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
The shared root links restoration with a return from what has gone astray; here, what returns is the value owed to the injured person.
meshiv: One who brings back or restores.
מֵשִׁיב
This related form emphasizes restoration as bringing something back to its rightful place, as the principal returns to its owner.
THE PATTERN
Scriptural repair reaches the person harmed and can return more than the amount taken.
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.Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.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
Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.The same return-root, שׁוּב (shuv), appears in the parallel restitution formula. Its repeated use ties the fifth part to the act of bringing back what is owed, with the injured person named as its recipient.
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