What Does Leviticus 21:23 Mean?
Only he does not go in to the veil, nor draw near the altar, because he carries a blemish; so that he does not pierce my set-apart places, for I the LORD sets them apart.
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
Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.THE KEY
The verse’s boundary falls on the movement of drawing near: the same root names coming near and qorban (קָרְבָּן, a drawing-near offering).
THE MEANING
The verse holds a hard boundary: a priest with a bodily blemish does not enter the veil or draw near to the altar, lest the sanctuaries be profaned. The LORD says the sanctuaries are set apart by his own act. The body’s condition and the sacred boundary both remain visible in the claim.
THE ROOT
יִקְרַב
yiqrav
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Approach, draw near.
Here, “come nigh” is yiqrav (יִקְרַב, draw near), from the same root as qorban (קָרְבָּן, drawing-near offering). English makes the approach sound like location alone; the shared root ties access to the altar to the act of drawing near.
ALSO GROWS
qorban: A drawing-near offering; something brought near.
קָרְבָּן
The altar is precisely where the verse restricts this movement of drawing near.
qarov: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
This branch makes the sense of “come nigh” visible as proximity.
מְקַדְּשָׁם
məqaddəšām
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart as sacred.
“set-apart places” in this verse is məqaddəšām. The verse’s “sanctify” and “sanctuaries” belong to one root: the places are set apart because the LORD sets them apart. The Hebrew joins the place itself to the act of setting apart.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Sacredness; a set-apart thing.
קֹדֶשׁ
It names the sacred status the verse says the LORD gives the sanctuaries.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a sacred place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary’s name comes from the same root as the LORD’s act of sanctifying it.
יְחַלֵּל
yəḥallēl
GROWS FROM
חלל
ḥ-l-l
Make common; profane.
“pierce” in this verse is yəḥallēl. The verse names the danger as making common what is set apart. The root gives “profane” a concrete force: treating the sanctuaries as ordinary.
ALSO GROWS
ḥol: Common, ordinary.
חֹל
It shows the contrast implied by profaning what the LORD has set apart.
ḥillul: Profanation, desecration.
חִלּוּל
It names the act the verse says this boundary prevents.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s setting apart defines the boundary of approach to what is sacred.
And he said, Do not draw near here. Loosen the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is set-apart ground.Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the LORD spoke, saying, In those who draw near to me, I will be set apart, and before the face of all the people I will be given weight. And Aaron kept still.Because it stands written, You shall be set apart, for I am set apart.THE THREAD
And keep my statutes, and do them. I am the LORD who sets you apart.The same root קדש (q-d-sh, set apart as sacred) appears in both passages. Here it names the LORD as the one setting apart the sanctuaries; there it names him as the one setting apart people.
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