What Does Leviticus 17:8 Mean?
And you shall say to them, Any man of the house of Israel, or of the sojourners among you, who brings a rising offering or a slaughtered 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 thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,THE KEY
The “burnt offering” and the act translated “offereth” share the root עָלָה, ascent, while Israelite and resident outsider stand within the same sentence.
THE MEANING
This verse places the Israelite and the resident outsider within one shared description of bringing an offering. The burnt offering is an ascent, while sacrifice retains the concrete sense of slaughter; the approach is named as a real act, not an abstract sentiment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a resident outsider stands outside the community’s sacred order is reversed: the verse includes that person alongside Israel.
THE ROOT
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh
GROWS FROM
עָלָה
ʿālāh
To ascend or go up.
“rising offering” in this verse is ʿōlāh. The noun translated “burnt offering” and the verb translated “offereth” both come from עָלָה (ʿālāh, to ascend). The offering’s name and the act of presenting it share one image: something rising.
ALSO GROWS
yaʿăleh: A form of the verb עָלָה, to ascend.
יַעֲלֶה
The verb behind “offereth” echoes the ascent already contained in the name of the burnt offering.
maʿălāh: An ascent or upward step.
מַעֲלָה
This related word keeps the root’s sense of upward movement visible in the offering’s name.
הַגֵּר
haggēr
GROWS FROM
גּוּר
gûr
To reside as an outsider or sojourner.
“sojourners” in this verse is haggēr. The Hebrew repeats the root גּוּר (gûr, to reside as a sojourner) in both “strangers” and “sojourn.” The phrase describes someone living among the people, not merely passing through.
ALSO GROWS
gēr: A person residing among a people without being native to them.
גֵּר
This is the person the verse explicitly includes beside the house of Israel.
megūrîm: Places or periods of residence as a sojourner.
מְגוּרִים
The related form keeps the emphasis on dwelling, clarifying that the stranger is living among the community.
זֶבַח
zevaḥ
GROWS FROM
זָבַח
zāvaḥ
To slaughter for sacrifice.
“slaughtered offering” in this verse is zevaḥ. “Sacrifice” here carries the concrete root sense of slaughter, alongside the image of ascent in עֹלָה (ʿōlāh, burnt offering). The verse names two forms of approach with physical, distinct actions.
ALSO GROWS
zāvaḥ: To slaughter an animal for sacrifice.
זָבַח
This is the verbal root behind the verse’s word for sacrifice.
mizbēaḥ: An altar, the place associated with sacrificial slaughter.
מִזְבֵּחַ
Its relationship to זָבַח (zāvaḥ, slaughter for sacrifice) keeps the altar connected to the concrete act named here.
THE PATTERN
The resident outsider is counted within the community’s shared terms of belonging and approach.
One instruction will be for the native of the land, and for the sojourner who sojourns among you.One statute shall be for you of the assembly, and for the sojourner who sojourns with you, a statute for the ages in your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before the LORD.So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the set-apart ones, and of the household of God.THE THREAD
One statute shall be for you of the assembly, and for the sojourner who sojourns with you, a statute for the ages in your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before the LORD.The same root, גּוּר (gûr, to reside as a sojourner), describes the stranger living among the community in both verses. Numbers makes the shared standing explicit: one ordinance holds the congregation and the stranger together before the LORD.
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