What Does Leviticus 9:22 Mean in the King James?
And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.
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
As Aaron comes down from the offerings, his raised hand turns blessing toward the people: the sacred act ends in favor among them.
THE MEANING
You are among the people toward whom the raised hand turns: blessing meets you as Aaron comes down from the offerings. The verse gathers the missing, what rises, and wholeness into a movement that ends with favor directed outward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that blessing stays with the offering dissolves here: the raised hand directs it toward the people.
THE ROOT
בָּרַךְ
barakh
GROWS FROM
ברך
Bend the knee; bless.
“blessed” in this verse is barakh. The Hebrew root links blessing with the knee, giving the word a posture of bending toward another. Here blessing is not left at the offerings: it is turned toward the people.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared root gives blessing a bodily image of bending toward someone.
berakhah: Blessing
בְּרָכָה
This noun from the same root names the favor Aaron speaks over the people.
חַטָּאת
chattat
GROWS FROM
חטא
Miss; fall short of the mark.
“sin offering” in this verse is chattat. The offering’s name grows from the language of missing. The verse places what misses within the offerings, then turns toward the people with a blessing; the miss is part of the scene, but it is not the final word.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss or fall short
חָטָא
This verb shares the root behind the offering and makes its language of missing visible.
chet: A missing; a miss
חֵטְא
This noun from the same root shows the connection between the offering and what has gone astray.
שְׁלָמִים
shelamim
GROWS FROM
שלם
Be whole, complete, or intact.
“peace offerings” in this verse is shelamim. The Hebrew name for these offerings comes from the root of wholeness. Set beside the offering for the missing and the offering that rises, it places wholeness within the same movement that ends in blessing toward the people.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness
שָׁלוֹם
This familiar branch carries the same root sense found in the name of the offerings.
shalem: Whole; complete
שָׁלֵם
This adjective shows the root’s sense of being intact, illuminating the wholeness carried in the offerings’ name.
THE PATTERN
Blessing moves from the presence of God and reaches people as favor spoken toward them.
Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.THE THREAD
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:The Hebrew root ברך (barakh, bless) appears in both “I will bless thee” and “thou shalt be a blessing.” The same root names favor received and favor that reaches others, opening Aaron’s gesture toward the people as part of that movement.
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