What Does Leviticus 19:24 Mean?

But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be set apart for praise to the LORD.

Leviticus 19:24 · 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

But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal.

THE KEY

The harvest itself becomes praise when it is set apart for the LORD.

THE MEANING

The fruit you receive is more than something to consume: it is also held as something set apart, carrying praise to the LORD. Praise is present in the harvest’s dedication, not only in words spoken about it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that a harvest matters only for what it provides to consume: here, the yield itself is marked for praise.

THE ROOT

הִלּוּלִים

hillulim

GROWS FROM

הלל

Praise, celebrate, make much of.

The Hebrew hillulim means “praises” or “celebrations” and comes from the root halal, praise. The fruit is not merely designated as sacred; its set-apart purpose is praise itself.

ALSO GROWS

halal: Praise, celebrate, or boast.

הָלַל

This verb supplies the seed of hillulim: the harvest is set apart for praise.

tehillah: Praise or a song of praise.

תְּהִלָּה

This related noun shows the same root taking form as expressed praise, while hillulim makes the fruit’s dedication an act of praise.

קֹדֶשׁ

qōdesh

GROWS FROM

קדשׁ

Set apart for a distinct purpose.

Qōdesh names the fruit as claimed for a purpose beyond ordinary use. Paired with hillulim, that purpose is specific: the harvest is set apart as praise to the LORD.

ALSO GROWS

qādōsh: Set apart; sacred.

קָדוֹשׁ

This form makes the same set-apart quality explicit, showing that the fruit’s purpose, not just its condition, is changed.

miqdāsh: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.

מִקְדָּשׁ

The shared root links the dedicated harvest with a place set apart: both are claimed for the LORD.

THE PATTERN

What grows honors the LORD when its yield is set apart and recognized as belonging to him.

And now, behold, I have brought the first-ripened fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me. And you set it down before the LORD your God, and bow down before the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 26:10 · SDVThe firstfruits are presented before the LORD as acknowledgment that the land’s yield is given by him.

Give the LORD weight with your wealth, and with the first of all your yield.

Proverbs 3:9 · SDVThe first portion of the increase becomes a concrete way of honoring the LORD.

In this my Father is given weight, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

John 15:8 · SDVFruitfulness becomes the means through which the Father is glorified.

THE THREAD

Let every thing that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

Psalm 150:6 · SDV

Leviticus names the fourth-year fruit hillulim, “praises,” from the root halal, praise. Psalm 150 uses that same praise-root to gather every breath-bearing creature into praise, opening the harvest as one expression of a wider pattern.

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