What Does Leviticus 14:30 Mean?
And he shall offer one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, as his hand can reach.
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 he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get;THE KEY
The offering is measured by what the giver can actually reach, so the text makes capacity part of the measure.
THE MEANING
The verse places the offering within what the hand can reach. The person’s actual means belong inside the measure of what is brought. The text speaks now wherever a requirement meets a real limit: what is available matters.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that an offering only counts if it reaches beyond what the giver can obtain.
THE ROOT
תַּשִּׂיג
tassig
GROWS FROM
נָשַׂג
nasag
Reach, attain, overtake.
“as his hand can reach” in this verse is tassig. The verb translated “get” comes from a root that also means to reach or overtake. Here, what the person can attain is measured by what his hand can reach; elsewhere the same root describes something reaching and overtaking him.
ALSO GROWS
tassig: You or he can reach, attain.
תַּשִּׂיג
This is the form behind “can get,” placing the offering within the person’s reach.
vehissigukha: And they shall overtake you.
וְהִשִּׂיגֻךָ
This form describes blessings reaching a person, showing the same root’s sense of what comes within reach.
THE PATTERN
The measure of what is brought is bounded by what is actually within a person’s means.
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.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.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
All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you hear and respond to the voice of the LORD your God.The same Hebrew root נָשַׂג (nasag), meaning “reach, attain, overtake,” underlies “get” here and “overtake” there. Leviticus pictures what a hand can attain; Deuteronomy pictures blessings reaching the person.
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