What Does Numbers 15:30 Mean in the King James?
But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
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
Presumption here is pictured as a hand held high: defiance made visible.
THE MEANING
This verse addresses the person who acts with a raised hand: open defiance that reproaches the LORD. That person is cut off from the community, whether native-born or a stranger; origin does not change the stated consequence. The verse names the living person as the one who acts and bears that consequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that lineage or outsider status decides whose defiance matters: the verse names the same consequence for the native and the stranger.
THE ROOT
בְּיָד רָמָה
be-yad ramah
GROWS FROM
רוּם
rûm
to rise, be high, or be lifted up
The Hebrew phrase adds a bodily image to “presumptuously”: a hand held high. רוּם (rûm, rise or be high) also gives תְּרוּמָה (terumah, a lifted contribution), so elevation itself is not condemned; the verse locates the force in what the raised hand does toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High; exalted.
רָם
It makes explicit the height pictured in the raised hand.
terumah: A contribution or offering lifted up.
תְּרוּמָה
The same root can describe what is lifted toward God, showing that the raised posture takes its meaning from the act it serves.
וְנִכְרְתָה
wenikhretah
GROWS FROM
כָּרַת
karat
to cut or sever
“cut off” in this verse is wenikhretah. The same root appears in the Hebrew idiom כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berit, cut a covenant). Here it describes separation from the people, so one verb-family holds both covenant-making and severance in view.
ALSO GROWS
karat berit: To make or establish a covenant.
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The shared root makes the verse’s separation concrete against the language of covenantal belonging.
keritut: A severance or certificate of divorce.
כְּרִיתֻת
This related noun keeps the root’s image of a relationship cut apart.
THE PATTERN
A raised posture takes its meaning from the act it serves: it can mark deliverance under God’s power or self-exaltation brought low.
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.THE THREAD
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:The Hebrew phrase כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berit, cut a covenant) uses the same root כָּרַת (karat, cut) found in “cut off.” One root holds two sharply different outcomes: covenantal belonging and severance from the people.
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