What Does Numbers 5:26 Mean in the King James?

And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.

Numbers 5:26 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Here, “memorial” is something the priest burns before the woman is made to drink: remembrance is enacted before the bodily test.

THE MEANING

You see a portion taken from the offering and burned as its memorial before the woman drinks the water. The act of remembrance and the test imposed on her body stand side by side, with the woman bearing the bodily risk. The verse leaves that tension unresolved.

THE ROOT

אַזְכָּרָתָהּ

’azkārāh

GROWS FROM

ז־כ־ר

Z-K-R

Remember, recall, bring to mind.

The Hebrew word names a portion of the offering as a memorial, so remembrance here is material and enacted, not only something held in thought. That portion is burned before the woman drinks, placing remembrance immediately before the bodily test.

ALSO GROWS

zākar: Remember, call to mind.

זָכַר

This is the root verb; it connects the burned portion to the act of remembering.

zikkārôn: Remembrance, memorial.

זִכָּרוֹן

This related noun shows how the root can name a memorial made to hold something in remembrance.

’azkārāh: Memorial portion of an offering.

אַזְכָּרָה

This is the word used in the verse: remembrance takes the form of a portion burned on the altar.

THE PATTERN

Remembrance is given a material or public form that carries offerings, names, or acts before God.

And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:

Leviticus 2:2 · KJVA portion of the offering is burned on the altar as a memorial, as in the verse under study.

And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.

Exodus 28:12 · KJVThe names of the people are physically carried before the LORD as a memorial.

And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

Acts 10:4 · KJVPrayers and alms are described as coming before God as a memorial.

THE THREAD

Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.

Psalm 20:3 · KJV

“Remember” translates ⁨זָכַר⁩ (zākar), the root of the memorial word in Numbers 5:26. In Psalm 20:3, remembrance is asked for in connection with offerings; in Numbers, a portion of the offering becomes the memorial itself.

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