What Does Leviticus 22:10 Mean?
No stranger shall eat of the set-apart thing. One who settles with the priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the set-apart thing.
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
There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.THE KEY
Being settled in or working for the priest’s household does not itself place someone inside its permitted share.
THE MEANING
This verse draws a boundary around set-apart food: an outsider, the priest’s resident, and a hired worker do not eat it. Residence and labor bring a person near the priest’s household, but this rule does not treat either as household belonging. The exclusion reaches the actual eating of the sacred food.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that proximity to sacred work or a place in someone’s household automatically grants a share; this rule withholds that access.
THE ROOT
קֹדֶשׁ
qōdeš
GROWS FROM
קדש
Set apart for a distinct sacred use.
“set-apart thing” in this verse is qōdeš. “Holy thing” can sound like a label attached to an object, but qodesh belongs to a family that also names the set-apart person, place, and act. The food is marked off as part of a distinct domain, and the verse draws a boundary around who may take it in.
ALSO GROWS
qādôš: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
The same root describes the status of what is reserved for sacred use.
miqdāš: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary and the food share the language of a domain marked off for sacred use.
qiddēš: Set apart; consecrate.
קִדֵּשׁ
The verb shows that set-apartness is something established, not merely a quality noticed afterward.
תּוֹשָׁב
tôšāḇ
GROWS FROM
ישב
Sit, dwell, remain settled.
“one who settles” in this verse is tôšāḇ. The Hebrew word describes a resident, not simply someone passing through. Even settled residence alongside the priest does not, in this verse, grant a share of the set-apart food.
ALSO GROWS
yāšaḇ: Sit; dwell; remain.
יָשַׁב
The resident is linked to the act of dwelling, making the distinction about settled presence clear.
môšāḇ: Dwelling; seat; settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch also carries the sense of an established place, yet residence alone does not cross the boundary in the verse.
שָׂכִיר
śāḵîr
GROWS FROM
שכר
Hire for wages; pay for service.
“hired servant” in this verse is śāḵîr. The hired worker is named through the wage relationship. The verse distinguishes work performed for the household from belonging to the household that receives the sacred food.
ALSO GROWS
śāḵar: Hire; engage for wages.
שָׂכַר
The verb names the arrangement that defines the worker’s place in the household.
śāḵār: Wages; payment; recompense.
שָׂכָר
The related noun makes the paid nature of the relationship explicit, which the verse sets apart from eligibility to eat.
THE PATTERN
A share in set-apart food follows a defined household or table bond, with access governed by that bond’s terms.
But if the priest buys any living soul with his silver, he shall eat of it, and whoever is born in his house; they shall eat of his bread.And this is yours. The lifted offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel, I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, by a statute for the ages. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot share in the Lord's table and the table of demons.THE THREAD
But if the priest buys any living soul with his silver, he shall eat of it, and whoever is born in his house; they shall eat of his bread.The next verse makes the boundary concrete: those bought into the priest’s household and those born there eat, while the resident and wage worker do not. Access follows household status, including status defined through ownership.
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