What Does Leviticus 14:22 Mean?
And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, as his hand can reach; and the one shall be an offering for falling short, and the other a rising offering.
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 two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.THE KEY
The rite meets a person within the reach of what they can obtain, while still naming both the missing and the rising.
THE MEANING
The reader’s return is held within what their hand can reach. The two offerings still name distinct movements: one addresses the missing, and the other rises.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A person must possess more than they can reach before a path of return is open.
THE ROOT
חַטָּאת
chatta’t
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
to miss, err, or fall short
“offering for falling short” in this verse is chatta’t. The word for the offering stays joined to חטא, the root of missing the mark. The verse pairs an offering that names the missing with another whose own name means rising.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss, err, or fall short.
חָטָא
This verb is the root action held inside the offering’s name.
chet: A miss or failure to reach what is aimed at.
חֵטְא
This noun keeps the offering connected to the missing it addresses.
עֹלָה
ʿolah
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
to ascend or go up
“rising offering” in this verse is ʿolah. עֹלָה names the offering by its rising, from עלה, “to ascend.” Beside חַטָּאת, it holds acknowledgment of the missing and upward movement together.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: To go up or rise.
עָלָה
This verb supplies the movement named by the offering.
ʿaliyah: An ascent or going up.
עֲלִיָּה
This noun carries the same upward motion into a related form.
THE PATTERN
The offered response is measured by what lies within a person’s reach, not by what they lack.
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
A Psalm of David, Maschil. Flourishing is the one whose rebellion is released, whose shortcomings are covered.Leviticus names one offering חַטָּאת (chatta’t, offering for the missing), from חטא; Psalm 32:1 uses חֲטָאָה (chata’ah, missing) from the same root. There, the missing appears beside release and covering, opening this offering into a larger movement of restoration.
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