What Does Leviticus 14:21 Mean?
And if he is low, and his hand cannot reach so much, then he shall take one lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make a covering for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour kneaded with oil for a gift, and a log of oil.
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
And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil;THE KEY
The offering changes with the reach of the poor man’s hand, but the verse still names covering for him.
THE MEANING
When what your hand can reach is limited, this verse still gives you a place in the rite: the measure changes, and covering is still made for you. Poverty changes the offering’s scale; it does not remove the provision for cleansing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being unable to afford the full prescribed measure puts a person beyond cleansing: the verse provides a smaller offering and still says atonement is made for him.
THE ROOT
מַשֶּׂגֶת
maséget
GROWS FROM
נשׂג
reach, attain, overtake
“get” in this verse is maséget. The phrase places the limit in the hand’s reach: what is beyond means is not described as unwillingness or worthlessness. This root can describe blessings that overtake a person, so it names what reaches someone, whether they can attain it or it arrives to them.
ALSO GROWS
tassig: will reach, attain
תַּשִּׂיג
Leviticus 14:32 uses this form for what the person’s hand cannot attain for cleansing, restating the limit named here.
vehissigukha: will overtake you
וְהִשִּׂיגֻךָ
In Deuteronomy 28:2, the same root describes blessings reaching and overtaking someone, showing its range from attaining to being reached.
דַּל
dal
GROWS FROM
דלל
be low, hang down, become diminished
“poor” in this verse is dal. Dal presents poverty as being low in resources, and the verse responds by altering the measure. The root names a material condition around which the rite is made reachable; it does not itself make poverty a moral failure.
ALSO GROWS
dal: low, weak, poor
דַּל
This is the word used for the man whose limited means shape the offering.
dallut: poverty, want
דַּלּוּת
This noun from the same root makes explicit the state behind the reduced measure.
לְכַפֵּר
lekhapper
GROWS FROM
כפר
cover, cover over
The verb rendered “make an atonement” is built from a root whose concrete image is covering. Its kinship with kapporet, the cover over the ark, lets “atonement for him” carry the image of covering that remains available within this smaller offering.
ALSO GROWS
kapporet: the cover over the ark
כַּפֹּרֶת
This related word makes the covering image tangible beside the verse’s statement that atonement is made for him.
kippurim: atonements, coverings
כִּפֻּרִים
This form keeps the same covering root audible in the familiar language of atonement.
THE PATTERN
A person’s offering is measured in relation to what they can bring, not what lies beyond their means.
And if his hand does not reach a lamb, then he brings to the LORD, for his guilt offering, the guilt wherein he has missed the mark, two turtledoves or two young pigeons; one as an offering for falling short, and the other as the ascending offering.And if her hand does not reach enough for a lamb, she takes two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one as a rising offering and the other as an offering for falling short, and the priest makes a covering for her, and she is clean.For if the leaning heart is there first, it is well received according to what one has, and not according to what one does not have.THE THREAD
This is the instruction for the one whose skin bears the striking, whose hand cannot reach what belongs to his cleansing.The phrase “not able to get” uses the same Hebrew root for reaching or attaining as “cannot get so much” in this verse. The next verse names that limit as part of the law itself, making the reduced offering a provision for cleansing within the reach of the person’s hand.
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