What Does Numbers 15:11 Mean in the King James?

Thus shall it be done for one bullock, or for one ram, or for a lamb, or a kid.

Numbers 15:11 · KJV

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

Each kind receives its own measure within one shared pattern, so difference does not undo the order.

THE MEANING

The verse holds unlike forms together: bull, ram, lamb, and kid each receive the offering prescribed for their kind. One order remains whole while its measure answers to each particular form.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that consistency means identical measure: the shared pattern is applied to each kind with its corresponding amount.

THE ROOT

יֵעָשֶׂה

yēʿāśeh

GROWS FROM

עָשָׂה

ʿāśâ

Do, make, carry out.

“done” in this verse is yēʿāśeh. The root ⁨עָשָׂה⁩ (ʿāśâ) carries both doing and making; here, the instruction becomes an action performed for each listed animal. The same root returns in the next verse, where the pattern is carried out for every unit in the count.

ALSO GROWS

maʿăśeh: Work, deed, or thing made.

מַעֲשֶׂה

This branch names the work that results from doing; here, the prescribed action gives the offering a concrete, repeatable form.

naʿăśeh: Let us make or do (Genesis 1:26).

נַעֲשֶׂה

The same root appears in the act of making at creation; here it marks carrying out an established pattern, joining making and doing in one Hebrew root.

THE PATTERN

A shared order can hold across distinct forms while its measure is applied to each one.

According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number.

Numbers 15:12 · KJVThe next verse makes the repetition explicit: each prepared unit receives its corresponding measure.

Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 24:22 · KJVOne rule holds across distinct statuses, showing a shared standard across difference.

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

Romans 12:4 · KJVDifferent members retain distinct functions within one body, so unity does not erase distinction.

THE THREAD

According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number.

Numbers 15:12 · KJV

The verb translated “do” shares the root ⁨עָשָׂה⁩ (ʿāśâ), meaning “do” or “make,” with “done” in this verse. The next line reveals the pattern’s rhythm: it is carried out for every offering, according to its number.

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