What Does Leviticus 21:7 Mean?
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.
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
They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.THE KEY
The prohibition guards the priest’s set-apart status through a boundary that makes women’s sexual and marital histories part of his eligibility for marriage.
THE MEANING
The verse places the priest’s marriage under the demands of his consecrated role, excluding a woman labeled a prostitute, a profaned woman, or one divorced from her husband. Its stated reason is the man’s holiness; the women’s status becomes part of the boundary protecting his standing. The rule shows how sacred office reaches into intimate relationships and assigns unequal consequences.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that consecration is purely inward is undone here: the verse makes the priest’s marriage choices part of his set-apart status.
THE ROOT
קָדֹשׁ
qādōsh
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
Q-D-Sh
Set apart or consecrate; mark as belonging to a distinct sphere or service.
“set apart” in this verse is qādōsh. The verse grounds the restriction in the priest’s set-apart status, so holiness reaches into who may share his marriage and household. The sentence makes the cost uneven: his status is protected by classifying certain women as outside the permitted boundary.
ALSO GROWS
qōdesh: Set-apartness; what is sacred
קֹדֶשׁ
This noun shows that “holy” carries the sense of belonging to a distinct sphere.
miqdāsh: Sanctuary; set-apart place
מִקְדָּשׁ
The same root connects the priest’s status with a place set apart for sacred service.
qiddēsh: Consecrate; set apart
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb shows holiness as an act of setting apart, not only a personal quality.
חֲלָלָה
ḥălālāh
GROWS FROM
חלל
Ḥ-L-L
Profane or violate what is set apart; the root family also includes piercing or wounding.
“pierced one” in this verse is ḥălālāh. The verse uses this as a status label but does not explain the woman’s story. The root’s range adds a sense of violation to “profane”; placed beside “holy,” it shows the boundary the verse draws around the priest’s status.
ALSO GROWS
ḥillēl: Profane; desecrate
חִלֵּל
This verb names the act of treating something set apart as common.
ḥālāl: Pierced or slain person
חָלָל
This form shares the root’s wider range of wounding, adding a breach-like shade to the word translated “profane.”
גְּרוּשָׁה
gerushah
GROWS FROM
גרש
G-R-Sh
Drive out; expel.
“driven out from her husband” in this verse is gerushah. The Hebrew names a divorced woman, while the wider root means to drive out or expel. The rule treats divorce as a status relevant to the priest’s eligibility, giving “put away” an added shade of dismissal.
ALSO GROWS
gāraš: Drive out; expel
גָּרַשׁ
This verb gives the root’s force directly.
gērūshīn: Divorce
גְּרוּשִׁין
This Hebrew term for divorce develops the same root into the legal status named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes set-apart identity visible through boundaries that shape belonging and conduct.
And you shall be set apart to me, for I, the LORD, am set apart, and I have separated you from the peoples, that you shall be mine.And you shall be to me a governance of priests and a set-apart nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people made his own, so that you may tell out the excellences of the one who called you out of darkness into his wondrous light.THE THREAD
Set him apart, therefore, for he brings near the bread of your God; he is set apart to you, for I the LORD, who set you apart, am set apart.The root קדשׁ (q-d-sh, set apart) moves from “sanctify” to “holy,” tying priestly identity to consecrated service. Read beside verse 7, it shows that this status reaches into marriage, with the rule’s cost falling on the women named.
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