What Does Leviticus 22:21 Mean?
And whoever brings near a wholeness offering to the LORD to set apart his vow, or a willing offering from the herd or the sheep, it shall be whole to be pleasing; no blemish shall be in it.
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
And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.THE KEY
What is offered as wholeness must itself be whole: shelamim and tamim place the same idea in the gift’s name and condition.
THE MEANING
Whether the offering answers a vow or is freely given, its acceptance is joined to its being whole and without defect. The name of the peace offering and the word describing its condition both carry the language of wholeness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that sincerity alone makes any gift acceptable: here, acceptance is bound to the offering’s unblemished condition.
THE ROOT
שְׁלָמִים
shelamim
GROWS FROM
ש־ל־ם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; to bring something to completion.
“wholeness offering” in this verse is shelamim. The word translated “peace offerings” belongs to the root that carries the sense of wholeness and completion. The offering’s name holds more than calm or the absence of conflict: it names a gift associated with wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being
שָׁלוֹם
This familiar branch shows why “peace” here carries the wider sense of wholeness.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This adjective makes the root’s sense of completeness plain beside the requirement that the offering be without defect.
shillem: To repay, make good, or fulfill an obligation
שִׁלֵּם
This branch echoes the vow in the verse: the root can also describe bringing a due obligation to completion.
תָּמִים
tamim
GROWS FROM
ת־מ־ם
t-m-m
To be complete, whole, or sound.
“whole” in this verse is tamim. Here “perfect” describes an animal that is sound and without defect. The same root can describe integrity in a person, so the word-family joins the condition of the offering to the idea of wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
tom: Integrity, completeness
תֹּם
This noun brings out the root’s sense of wholeness beneath the offering’s required soundness.
tam: Whole, blameless; also plain or simple
תָּם
This related form can describe a person as upright or whole, showing that the root extends beyond the physical condition of an animal.
THE PATTERN
Scripture carries the language of wholeness from an unblemished offering into a whole way of standing before God.
You shall be whole with the LORD your God.but with the costly blood of the Anointed One, as of a lamb without blemish and without stain.How much more will the blood of the Anointed One, who through the breath of the ages brought himself near without blemish to God, cleanse our shared sight from dead works to serve the living God.THE THREAD
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am God Almighty; walk before my face, and be whole.The word translated “perfect” in Genesis is תָּמִים (tamim), the same word that describes the offering’s required condition here. Its root carries wholeness from the condition of a gift into the description of a whole life before God.
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