What Does Leviticus 22:16 Mean?
Or let them carry the crookedness of guilt, when they eat their set-apart things; for I the LORD set 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
Or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass, when they eat their holy things: for I the LORD do sanctify them.THE KEY
The guilt here is not abstract: the verse pictures crookedness as something people can be made to carry.
THE MEANING
This verse names the weight of letting sacred things be eaten in a way that makes people bear guilt. The LORD is the one who sets them apart, so their sacred status and the boundary around what they eat belong together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that being set apart makes every use of sacred things harmless dissolves here: the verse holds sacred status and real liability together.
THE ROOT
וְהִשִּׂיאוּ
ve-hissiu
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-s-ʾ
Lift, carry, or bear; in this form, cause someone to carry.
“let them carry” in this verse is ve-hissiu. The verb does not leave guilt as an idea: it says someone can be made to carry it. This root also forms words for a burden and for a leader, linking what is carried with the weight of responsibility.
ALSO GROWS
maśśāʾ: A load or burden.
מַשָּׂא
It makes the verse’s language of bearing liability feel concrete: the guilt is something carried.
nāśîʾ: A chief or prince; one elevated.
נָשִׂיא
This branch links carrying with responsibility entrusted to a person.
עֲוֹן
ʿāwōn
GROWS FROM
עון
ʿ-w-n
Crookedness and the culpability that follows from it.
English “iniquity” can sound like a label for wrongdoing; avon holds crookedness and its liability together. Paired with “bear,” it makes the consequence something laid on people, not only a verdict pronounced about them.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāwōn: Crookedness, guilt, or the consequence of wrongdoing.
עָוֹן
The word in the verse can name both the wrong and the liability that comes with it.
ʿăwōnōt: Crooked acts or accumulated guilt.
עֲוֹנוֹת
The plural form shows how crookedness can gather into a burden.
מְקַדְּשָׁם
meqaddesham
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart as sacred.
The verse grounds the boundary in the LORD’s action: he sets the people apart. The same root names the sacred thing and the sanctuary, joining the people’s status to what is set apart for God.
ALSO GROWS
qōdeš: A sacred or set-apart thing.
קֹדֶשׁ
It is the word family behind the holy things whose use carries responsibility.
miqdāš: A sanctuary, a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
It shows how the root marks not only people and objects, but also a place belonging to God.
qādôš: Set apart as sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
It names the status the LORD gives, which does not erase the boundary around sacred things.
THE PATTERN
What God sets apart carries a boundary whose careless crossing can place real liability on people.
And the LORD said unto Aaron, You and your sons and your father's house with you shall carry the crookedness of the set-apart place, and you and your sons with you shall carry the crookedness of your priest's office.Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, "Surely my sabbaths you shall guard, for it is a sign between me and you through your generations, that you may perceive that I am the LORD who sets you apart."So whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord without its due weight shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto Aaron, You and your sons and your father's house with you shall carry the crookedness of the set-apart place, and you and your sons with you shall carry the crookedness of your priest's office.The same Hebrew roots for “bear” (נשא, nāśāʾ, carry) and “iniquity” (עָוֹן, ʿāwōn, crookedness and culpability) appear here. That pairing opens Leviticus further: responsibility around what is set apart becomes a burden someone must carry.
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