What Does Numbers 7:34 Mean in the King James?

One kid of the goats for a sin offering:

Numbers 7:34 · 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

The Hebrew names both the miss and its offering from one root, binding the response to what went astray.

THE MEANING

A miss is named, and a concrete offering is set beside it. The Hebrew word for “sin offering” belongs to the same word-family as the word for missing or going wrong, so what goes astray is not left unnamed.

THE ROOT

חַטָּאת

ḥaṭṭāʾt

GROWS FROM

חטא

ḥṭʾ

To miss, go wrong, or err.

⁨חַטָּאת⁩ can name both the miss and the offering associated with it. English separates them into “sin” and “sin offering,” while Hebrew keeps them in one word-family, holding the wrong and its response together.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāṭāʾ: To miss, err, or do wrong.

חָטָא

This verb shares the seed of “sin offering,” showing the link between the act of going wrong and the offering named here.

ḥēṭʾ: A miss or wrong; sin.

חֵטְא

This noun names the miss itself, making visible the shared root behind the wrong and its offering.

THE PATTERN

A concrete offering gives visible form to what is named as a miss or impurity, so it can be addressed.

Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:

Leviticus 4:23 · KJVA known wrong is met with the same specific kind of offering: a kid of the goats.

And one kid of the goats for a sin offering unto the LORD shall be offered, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.

Numbers 28:15 · KJVThe kid of the goats is named again as the concrete offering for the miss.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

Hebrews 9:13 · KJVHere the offering of goats is joined to a visible act of cleansing for what is unclean.

THE THREAD

Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:

Leviticus 4:23 · KJV

Here the same phrase names a kid of the goats as an offering when the miss becomes known. The Hebrew uses the ⁨חטא⁩ word-family for both the miss and the offering, making explicit the connection Numbers 7:34 compresses into one line.

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