What Does Leviticus 21:14 Mean?
A widow, or a woman driven out, or a pierced one, or a harlot, these he does not take; but a virgin from his people he takes as wife.
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
A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.THE KEY
The same Hebrew verb governs both the women excluded and the woman permitted, making the distinction about who qualifies to be taken as a wife.
THE MEANING
The verse sets a strict boundary around whom the priest may take as wife: a widow, divorced woman, profaned woman, or harlot is excluded; a virgin from his own people is permitted. Women’s marital or sexual status determines eligibility, while the priest remains the chooser.
THE ROOT
יִקָּח
yiqqaḥ
GROWS FROM
לקח
To take, receive, or acquire.
The same verb appears for both sides of the rule: he does not take the listed women, but takes a virgin from his people. The act remains the same; the distinction lies in which woman’s status permits her to be chosen.
ALSO GROWS
lāqaḥ: To take or receive.
לָקַח
This verbal form makes clear that the verse’s repeated act of taking comes from the root לקח.
leqaḥ: Instruction or teaching; what is received.
לֶקַח
This noun shares the root’s consonants and extends the sense of receiving from taking into taking something in.
THE PATTERN
Marriage status is made a boundary for those serving in sacred office.
They do not take a wife who is a harlot, or a pierced one, nor do they take a woman driven out from her husband; for he is set apart to his God.Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor a woman driven away; but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who had a priest before.Then the overseer must be one no hand can seize, a man of one wife, clear-headed, whole-minded, well-ordered, a lover of strangers, able to make others learn.THE THREAD
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor a woman driven away; but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who had a priest before.The Hebrew verb לקח, meaning to take or receive, frames both rulings around who may be taken as a wife. Ezekiel also makes the boundary specific: a widow whose former husband was a priest is permitted.
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