What Does Leviticus 22:2 Mean?
Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they hold themselves apart from the set-apart things of the children of Israel, and that they do not pierce my set-apart nature in those things which they set apart to me. I am the LORD.
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
Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me: I am the LORD.THE KEY
What you set apart for God and the nature by which you know God are joined: to make the sacred common is to profane the Name.
THE MEANING
The verse binds the LORD’s name, his nature, to the handling of what is set apart for him. In your life, the sacred is carried by what you dedicate; treating it as ordinary also makes the name it bears common.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that reverence for God’s name can be separated from how sacred things are handled.
THE ROOT
יְחַלְּלוּ
yeḥallelū
GROWS FROM
חלל
ḥ-l-l
Make common; profane or defile.
“pierce” in this verse is yeḥallelū. Alongside irreverence, this verb carries the act of making something common. The verse sets that action against setting things apart, revealing how treating the sacred as ordinary reaches the Name.
ALSO GROWS
ḥōl: Common or ordinary; outside the sacred sphere.
חֹל
It shows the contrast within the Hebrew vocabulary: profaning makes what is set apart common.
ḥillul: Profanation; treating the sacred as common.
חִלּוּל
This noun from the same root keeps the focus on a change in how something sacred is treated.
מַקְדִּשִׁים
maqdišim
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; mark as sacred.
“set apart” in this verse is maqdišim. The phrase “my holy name” includes שֵׁם (shem, “name as nature”), while “holy” and “hallow” share the root for setting apart. The verse binds what the LORD is known to be with how dedicated things are treated.
ALSO GROWS
qōdeš: A sacred thing; set-apartness.
קֹדֶשׁ
The verse calls the offerings “holy things” with this root, naming the status at stake.
miqdāš: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary carries the same root into a place marked as sacred.
וְיִנָּזְרוּ
veyinnāzerū
GROWS FROM
נזר
n-z-r
Separate oneself; keep apart or dedicate.
“hold themselves apart” in this verse is veyinnāzerū. The verb describes a boundary around what is set apart. Related words can mark a consecrated person or a diadem, so separation can carry identity as well as distance.
ALSO GROWS
nāzîr: A consecrated person; a Nazirite.
נָזִיר
This branch names a person marked by separation, echoing the boundary placed around the holy things.
nēzer: A diadem or crown; consecration.
נֵזֶר
The root can describe a visible mark of what is set apart, adding a sense of identity to the verse’s separation.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s name is kept holy or profaned through the way it is borne and treated among others.
You shall not lift the name of the LORD your God into emptiness, for the LORD will not clear him who lifts his name into emptiness.And I will set apart my great name, which was pierced among the nations, which you pierced in the midst of them, and the nations will know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when I am set apart in you before their eyes.Pray, then, in this way. Our Father, who is in heaven, let your name be set apart.THE THREAD
And you will make a blossom of pure gold, and open upon it, like the openings of a seal, Set-Apart to the LORD.The same root for setting apart that marks the holy things and the holy name in Leviticus appears in the word rendered “HOLINESS” here. In Exodus, set-apartness is literally borne on the priest’s body, opening the link between the Name and the people handling what is sacred.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us