What Does Leviticus 7:24 Mean in the King James?
And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it.
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 verse separates edibility from usefulness: what cannot be eaten can still be put to work.
THE MEANING
This verse holds two truths together for the reader now: fat from an animal that dies or is torn remains useful, while eating it is barred. The boundary governs consumption without declaring the material worthless.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that anything excluded from eating is therefore worthless does not hold here.
THE ROOT
יֵעָשֶׂה
yēʿāśeh
GROWS FROM
עָשָׂה
ʿāśāh
Do, make; here, be made or put to use.
The Hebrew form behind “may be used” means “shall be made” or “shall be done,” with work as its destination. The material remains available for making and doing, while eating is explicitly closed.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōśeh: one who does or makes
עֹשֶׂה
This form carries the same root into an agent who performs work.
maʿăśeh: deed, work, or product
מַעֲשֶׂה
This noun from the same root echoes the verse’s shift from food to utility.
טְרֵפָה
ṭərēphāh
GROWS FROM
טָרַף
ṭāraph
Tear, seize, or devour.
“torn” in this verse is ṭərēphāh. The form names more than damage: the same root speaks of prey seized and the act of tearing or devouring. The verse gives the fat from such an animal a place in work, although its eating is barred.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāraph: to tear, seize, or devour
טָרַף
This verb names the beast’s act behind the animal’s torn condition.
ṭéreph: prey, food seized
טֶרֶף
The same root names what is taken as prey, linking the torn animal to the act that leaves it torn.
THE PATTERN
The end of one use does not make a thing useless; its function can change.
Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.THE THREAD
And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.The same root, טָרַף (ṭāraph, “tear or devour”), appears in the torn animal here and in the report that a beast devoured Joseph. That shared word makes the source of the fat concrete: it comes from an animal seized by violence, yet it still has a permitted use apart from eating.
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