What Does Leviticus 22:29 Mean?
And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of the open hand to the LORD, you shall sacrifice it to be pleasing for you.
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 when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will.THE KEY
Here, thanksgiving becomes a gift you can place before the LORD, not only a feeling you carry.
THE MEANING
Your gratitude can take the shape of something willingly offered to the LORD. The phrase “at your own will” also carries the language of acceptance and favor: the gift is presented as something pleasing and received.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that gratitude is only an inward feeling; this verse gives it the form of a concrete offering.
THE ROOT
תּוֹדָה
todah
GROWS FROM
ידה
Acknowledge, give thanks, praise.
“the open hand” in this verse is todah. תּוֹדָה (todah, thanksgiving) can name both grateful praise and a thanksgiving offering. The verse joins acknowledgment of the LORD with a gift given in that spirit.
ALSO GROWS
yadah: Acknowledge, give thanks, praise.
יָדָה
The verb shares the root of thanksgiving, linking the act of giving thanks with the offering named here.
Yehudah: Judah, a name associated with praise.
יְהוּדָה
The name shares this root, echoing how thanksgiving grows from acknowledgment and praise.
לִרְצֹנְכֶם
lirtzonkem
GROWS FROM
רצה
Be pleased with; accept; show favor.
“to be pleasing for you” in this verse is lirtzonkem. The phrase carries the language of favor and acceptance alongside the willing act of giving. The offering is presented as something pleasing and received.
ALSO GROWS
ratsah: Be pleased with; accept.
רָצָה
This verb gives the phrase its sense of favor and acceptance.
ratzui: Acceptable; pleasing.
רָצוּי
This related form brings out the idea of an offering that is pleasing or acceptable.
זֶבַח
zebach
GROWS FROM
זבח
Slaughter; offer a sacrifice.
“when you sacrifice” in this verse is zebach. The root names a concrete act of sacrifice. Its related altar word points to where the offering is brought, so thanksgiving here takes material form, not only the form of speech.
ALSO GROWS
zavach: Slaughter; offer a sacrifice.
זָבַח
The verb shows the physical act carried by the noun “sacrifice” in the verse.
mizbeach: Altar.
מִזְבֵּחַ
This related word names the place of sacrifice, making the offering’s concrete setting visible.
THE PATTERN
Thanksgiving becomes an offering when gratitude is given voice and form before God.
Offer to God thanksgiving, and make whole your vows to the Most High.But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of open-handed thanks; what I have vowed, I will make whole. Deliverance belongs to the LORD.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
Offer to God thanksgiving, and make whole your vows to the Most High.Both verses use תּוֹדָה (todah, thanksgiving), from יָדָה (yadah, acknowledge, give thanks, praise). Psalm 50 names the same movement plainly: thanksgiving itself is something offered to God.
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