What Does Leviticus 16:19 Mean?
He sprinkles some of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanses it, and sets it apart from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
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 sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.THE KEY
The altar’s uncleanness is removed so it can be set apart again: what touches the sacred does not become its nature.
THE MEANING
What is set apart can still bear the uncleanness that reaches it without being defined by that uncleanness. Here the altar is cleansed and set apart again; what has carried impurity is not left in that state.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
What has been touched by uncleanness can never be set apart again.
THE ROOT
וְטִהֲרוֹ
ve-ṭihărô
GROWS FROM
טהר
Be clean or pure.
“cleanse” in this verse is ve-ṭihărô. The same root can name both the act of cleansing and the state of being clean. The verse presents cleansing as a return to cleanness, not a new identity added to the altar.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāhôr: Clean, pure.
טָהוֹר
The adjective names the state the cleansing restores.
ṭāhorāh: Cleanness, purity.
טָהֳרָה
The noun makes cleanness a condition that can be restored.
וְקִדְּשׁוֹ
ve-qiddĕšô
GROWS FROM
קדש
Set apart as sacred.
“sets it apart” in this verse is ve-qiddĕšô. The verse places cleansing and setting apart side by side: first the altar is cleared of impurity, then its sacred distinction is affirmed. The two verbs name related but distinct movements.
ALSO GROWS
qādôš: Set apart, sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
It describes the status affirmed when the altar is hallowed.
qōdeš: Sacredness, a holy place or thing.
קֹדֶשׁ
It shows how the same root names both sacred status and what is set apart.
טֻמְאֹת
ṭumʾôt
GROWS FROM
טמא
Be ritually impure or defiled.
“uncleanness” in this verse is ṭumʾôt. The verse names impurity as something that can reach the altar from the people. It speaks of ritual defilement here, not a judgment that the people or the altar are inherently worthless.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāmēʾ: Unclean, ritually impure.
טָמֵא
This adjective names the condition carried by the root.
ṭumʾāh: Uncleanness, ritual impurity.
טֻמְאָה
This noun names the condition the verse says the altar is cleansed from.
THE PATTERN
A marked act of cleansing moves what has met impurity toward cleanness and restored sacredness.
And he shall sprinkle upon the one being cleansed from the striking of the skin seven times, and shall make him clean, and shall send the living bird out into the open field.Remove my falling short with hyssop, and I am clean; tread me, and I am whiter than snow.For if the blood of bulls and goats, with the ash of a heifer sprinkled on those made common, sets apart to the cleanness of the flesh.THE THREAD
For on that day the priest makes a covering for you, to cleanse you, so that you may be clean from all your shortcomings before the LORD.The same Hebrew root טהר (ṭ-h-r, be clean or pure) appears in “cleanse” and “be clean.” In verse 19 the altar is cleansed from Israel’s impurities; here the same cleansing reaches the people.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us