What Does Leviticus 21:21 Mean?
No man of the seed of Aaron the priest who carries a spot draws near to bring near the fires of the LORD. He carries a spot; he does not come near to bring near the bread of his God.
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
No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.THE KEY
The verb behind “offer” means “bring near,” so the verse bars this priest from approaching to bring an offering near.
THE MEANING
The verse places a hard bodily boundary on priestly approach: being of Aaron’s line does not remove it. A man with a blemish may not come near to bring the LORD’s fire offerings or the bread of his God. The wording directly excludes him from these acts of service.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Aaronic descent alone guarantees access to every priestly function.
THE ROOT
לְהַקְרִיב
lehaqriv
GROWS FROM
קרב
Draw near; in this form, bring near.
The verb translated “offer” means to bring near. Alongside “come nigh,” it describes altar service as a movement of approach, and this verse bars that movement.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: Come near, approach
קָרַב
This is the root’s basic movement, echoed by the verse’s repeated prohibition on coming near.
qorban: Offering; something brought near
קָרְבָּן
The offering is bound to the act of bringing it near to God.
qarov: Near, close
קָרוֹב
This branch keeps the root’s language of nearness audible beneath the altar action.
יִגַּשׁ
yigash
GROWS FROM
נגשׁ
Approach, come near.
“draws near” in this verse is yigash. The same verb appears in both prohibitions: he may not approach to offer the fire offerings, and he may not approach to offer the bread. The repeated word makes the barred approach itself the hinge of the verse.
ALSO GROWS
nagash: Approach, come near
נָגַשׁ
This is the root verb behind both instances of “come nigh.”
higgish: Bring near, present
הִגִּישׁ
This form carries the movement from approaching oneself to presenting something near another.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents nearness to the sacred as a threshold with an explicitly named condition.
For whatever man carries a blemish does not draw near, whether blind, or limping, or split in the nose, or with a limb too long.Who climbs the mountain of the LORD? Who stands in his set-apart place? Clean of hands and clear of heart, he who does not lift up his living soul to emptiness, nor swears in deceit.Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.THE THREAD
He eats the bread of his God, from the most set-apart, and from the set-apart.The next verse repeats the bread phrase but separates eating it from offering it: he may eat what verse 21 bars him from presenting. The boundary is exact, exclusion from altar service does not mean exclusion from God’s provision.
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