What Does Leviticus 19:32 Mean?

You shall rise up before the gray head, and adorn the face of the elder, and stand in awe of your God. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:32 · 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

Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

THE KEY

The verse joins visible honor for an aging face with awe before God, making reverence take shape in how another person is received.

THE MEANING

When an aging face stands before you, the verse gives recognition a visible form: you rise, and you honor. Awe of God is bound to that human encounter; reverence reaches into the way age is received. The LORD’s own name anchors both gestures.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that awe of God can remain a private feeling, separate from how an older person is treated.

THE ROOT

וְהָדַרְתָּ

vehadarta

GROWS FROM

הדר

H-D-R

To honor or adorn; to make splendid.

“adorn the face” in this verse is vehadarta. The verb translated “honour” shares its root with hadar, meaning splendor or majesty. The verse frames regard for age as recognizing dignity and giving it visible expression; rising makes that honor bodily.

ALSO GROWS

hadar: Splendor, majesty.

הָדָר

This noun shows the radiance carried within the root of “honour”: the aging face is met with recognition of dignity.

mehudar: Adorned, splendid, distinguished.

מְהֻדָּר

This related form gives honor a visible quality, echoed in the verse’s outward gesture of rising.

THE PATTERN

Age is treated as a visible bearer of dignity and wisdom, deserving recognition in the way people meet and address one another.

A gray head is a crown of splendor, when it is found on the way of alignment.

Proverbs 16:31 · SDVAge appears as a crown, making its dignity visible rather than incidental.

With the aged is wisdom, and in length of days, understanding.

Job 12:12 · SDVLong life is joined with understanding, giving age a place in the community’s wisdom.

Do not strike at an elder, but urge him as a father, and the younger men as brothers.

1 Timothy 5:1 · SDVThe elder is addressed through a form of respect that shapes the relationship itself.

THE THREAD

You shall do no crookedness in judgment; you shall not lift up the face of the bowed down, nor adorn the face of the great; but in alignment shall you judge the one beside you.

Leviticus 19:15 · SDV

The same Hebrew root for “honour” appears in the warning against honoring the face of the mighty in judgment. Together, the verses hold regard for age alongside impartial justice: dignity is recognized without letting status bend judgment.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us