What Does Leviticus 14:26 Mean?

And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand.

Leviticus 14:26 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand:

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for oil shares its root with fatness and rich food, so the rite begins with material richness held in the priest’s palm.

THE MEANING

This verse brings the act of cleansing down to the body: the priest pours a portion of oil into his left palm. The oil is held in the hand, ready for the next movement of the rite. What happens here is measured, tangible, and close to the skin.

THE ROOT

שֶׁמֶן

shemen

GROWS FROM

שׁמן

sh-m-n

To be fat or grow fat; by extension, fatness, richness, and oil.

English “oil” names the substance, while its Hebrew word belongs to a family that also names fatness and rich food. That shared root lets the material richness of the oil remain audible as it is poured into the priest’s palm.

ALSO GROWS

shamen: Fat or rich.

שָׁמֵן

This adjective shares the root beneath shemen, showing the link between oil and fatness within the Hebrew word-family.

mishmannim: Rich or choice foods; fat portions.

מִשְׁמַנִּים

This related word carries the root into food, echoing the material richness named by shemen.

THE PATTERN

Oil becomes part of consecration and care through its deliberate placement on a body.

Then you take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

Exodus 29:7 · SDVOil is poured directly onto a person as part of an act of consecration.

And he poured some of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to set him apart.

Leviticus 8:12 · SDVThe oil’s placement on the body enacts the setting apart named in the verse.

Is anyone among you without strength? Let him call to himself the older ones of the assembly, and let them pray over him, rubbing him with oil in the nature of the LORD.

James 5:14 · SDVOil is placed on the sick person within an act of communal care.

THE THREAD

Then you take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

Exodus 29:7 · SDV

Both verses use ⁨שֶׁמֶן⁩ (shemen, oil) and ⁨יָצַק⁩ (yatsaq, to pour). In Leviticus the oil is held in the palm; in Exodus the same substance is poured onto the head, linking two bodily placements through the same words.

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