What Does Leviticus 20:5 Mean?
Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and I will cut him off, and all who go whoring after him, to go whoring after Molech, from among their people.
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
Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.THE KEY
The root כרת (kārat, “to cut off”) makes the outcome a severing from the people, and the verse extends that severing to those who follow the same pursuit.
THE MEANING
The verse names a person who pursues Molech and draws others after him; the divine opposition includes his family, and the man and those followers are cut off from their people. Its repeated language of whoring presents this as a shared allegiance, not a passing contact.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a chosen allegiance can remain private is undone: the verse names the person’s family and followers within the reach of its consequences.
THE ROOT
וְהִכְרַתִּי
we-hikhrattî
GROWS FROM
כרת
kārat
To cut, sever, or cut off.
“cut him off” in this verse is we-hikhrattî. The root gives the threat the shape of a severing from the people, rather than an undefined loss. The man and those who pursue Molech after him are named in that severing, while his family is named as being under the opposing face.
ALSO GROWS
kārēt: Excision; being cut off.
כָּרֵת
This noun preserves the same cutting-off image and clarifies the force of the verse’s severing language.
kerîtût: Divorce; severance of a bond.
כְּרִיתוּת
This form carries the root’s sense of severing into the ending of a relationship, revealing how the root can describe separation from a bond as well as from a people.
לִזְנוֹת
liznôt
GROWS FROM
זנה
zānâ
To prostitute oneself or act sexually unfaithfully.
“all who go whoring after him” in this verse is liznôt. The root appears in the description of those who follow the man and again in the stated purpose of pursuing Molech. The echo ties following a person to the shared act of pursuing Molech, presenting the act as an allegiance that gathers followers.
ALSO GROWS
zōnāh: A woman who prostitutes herself; a prostitute.
זֹנָה
This form retains all three root consonants and shows the literal sexual force carried by the verse’s language.
zōneh: A man who prostitutes himself; one who acts sexually unfaithfully.
זֹנֶה
This masculine form belongs to the same consonantal family as the followers named in the verse.
הַמֹּלֶךְ
ha-Mōlekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
mālak
To reign or rule; the same consonantal family includes the word for king.
Molech’s written consonants match the Hebrew word-family for king and reigning. Beside the repeated pursuit “after Molech,” that resonance sharpens the sense of allegiance to a rival rule while leaving the named object explicit.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
It shares the name’s three consonants and makes the kingship resonance audible without replacing Molech’s name.
himlîkh: To make or install as king.
הִמְלִיךְ
This verb shares the same root consonants and shows the family’s connection to establishing rule.
THE PATTERN
An allegiance can be recruited through relationships, repeated as a shared pursuit, and tied to the consequences of what is served.
If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own living soul, coax you open in a hidden place, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers;And they shall no more slaughter their slaughters to the hairy ones, after whom they have gone whoring. This shall be a statute for the ages, through their generations.Do you not know that to the one you set yourselves beside as servants for hearing and response, his servants you are, the one you hear and respond to; whether of falling short unto death, or of hearing and response unto alignment?THE THREAD
And they shall no more slaughter their slaughters to the hairy ones, after whom they have gone whoring. This shall be a statute for the ages, through their generations.Both verses use the Hebrew root זנה (zānâ, “to prostitute oneself” or “act sexually unfaithfully”) for pursuing another object of devotion. The shared root joins following a person with the group’s pursuit after Molech.
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