What Does Leviticus 1:3 Mean?
If his drawing near from the herd is a rising offering, he shall bring near a whole male to the opening of the tent of appointed meeting, and he shall bring it near of his own pleasure before the face of the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.THE KEY
The offering is a qorban, a “drawing near”: the gift itself is movement into God’s presence.
THE MEANING
The verse gives this approach a visible form: a male from the herd, whole and freely brought, meets the LORD at the tabernacle’s entrance. The offering is named as a drawing near, and the burnt offering as what rises; nearness here has a gift, a threshold, and an upward movement.
THE ROOT
קָרְבָּן
qorbān
GROWS FROM
ק-ר-ב
q-r-b
Draw near, approach.
“drawing near” in this verse is qorbān. English “offering” names the object; qorbān names its movement: the gift draws near. Related forms mean “approach” and “near,” so the verse frames the gift as a path into presence.
ALSO GROWS
qārab: To come near or approach.
קָרַב
The verb names the movement carried by the offering itself.
qārōb: Near or close at hand.
קָרוֹב
This branch shows that the offering’s root holds the idea of nearness within it.
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh
GROWS FROM
ע-ל-ה
ʿ-l-h
Go up, ascend.
“rising offering” in this verse is ʿōlāh. The name of the burnt offering means “what rises.” Its root also names ascending, complementing qorban’s movement of drawing near with the image of what rises before God.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: To rise or go up.
עָלָה
The verb makes the upward movement in the name of the offering audible.
ʿăliyyāh: An ascent or upward movement.
עֲלִיָּה
This noun shares the root’s image of rising with the burnt offering.
תָּמִים
tāmîm
GROWS FROM
ת-מ-ם
t-m-m
Be complete, whole, finished.
“a whole male” in this verse is tāmîm. The word holds completeness and wholeness alongside blamelessness. The offering’s integrity is part of the verse’s picture of drawing near.
ALSO GROWS
tām: Whole or complete; also blameless.
תָּם
This related form shows the root’s sense of wholeness in a description of a person.
tōm: Integrity or completeness.
תֹּם
This branch links the offering’s soundness with the idea of an undivided whole.
THE PATTERN
Drawing near becomes visible through a gift or life brought before God.
And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock, and of their fat. And the LORD gazed upon Abel and upon his offering.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.THE THREAD
But you say, If a man says to his father or his mother, Corban, whatever help from me you might have had, he is free.Mark 7:11 preserves the Hebrew loanword κορβᾶν (korbān, “a gift dedicated to God”), corresponding to קָרְבָּן (qorbān, “offering, drawing near”) here. In Mark, naming a gift “Corban” can be used to withhold it from a parent, showing how the same word for drawing near is bound up with what is actually brought near.
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