What Does Leviticus 22:24 Mean?
You shall not bring near to the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; nor shall you make any of it in your land.
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
Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.THE KEY
In context, the four injury words name damage to a male animal’s testicles, making this a precise anatomical disqualification.
THE MEANING
The verse draws a precise boundary around what is brought to the LORD: a male animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn, or cut cannot be offered. It also forbids making such an offering anywhere in the land, keeping each named injury concrete.
THE ROOT
כָּתוּת
kattut
GROWS FROM
כתת
k-t-t
To beat, crush, or break into pieces.
“crushed” in this verse is kattut. The root כתת (k-t-t), meaning to beat or crush, appears in words for both bodily injury and forceful processing. Here it names damage to the animal’s reproductive organs; elsewhere, the same root describes olives beaten for lamp oil and swords beaten into plowshares.
ALSO GROWS
katit: Beaten or pressed, describing olive oil.
כָּתִית
Exodus 27:20 uses this form for olive oil beaten for the lamp; the shared root keeps the force of pressing visible while the object and result differ.
vekittetu: They shall beat.
וְכִתְּתוּ
Isaiah 2:4 uses this form for beating swords into plowshares, another outcome named through the same root.
THE PATTERN
Across scripture, an offering’s bodily condition is part of its acceptability, and the texts name damage and blemish directly.
You shall not slaughter to the LORD your God any ox or sheep in which is a blemish, or any evil thing, for it is what the LORD your God recoils from.When you bring near the blind for slaughter, is it not evil? And when you bring near the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Bring it near now to your governor. Will he be pleased with you, or lift your face? says the LORD of hosts.but with the costly blood of the Anointed One, as of a lamb without blemish and without stain.THE THREAD
And you shall command the children of Israel, that they take to you clear oil of crushed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to rise continually.The word translated “beaten” is כָּתִית (katit), from the same root כתת (k-t-t) as “crushed” here. The shared root names forceful pressing in both verses; here it injures the animal, while there it prepares oil for light.
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