What Does Leviticus 23:25 Mean?
You shall do no work of serving in it. But you shall bring near an offering of fire to 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
Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.THE KEY
The verse pairs the stopping of service-labor with an offering whose root means drawing near.
THE MEANING
The day sets a boundary around service-labor, then commands an offering to be brought near to the LORD. Its pause is not sheer emptiness: ordinary work ceases while approach remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that setting work aside means doing nothing: this day pairs the restraint of labor with an offering brought near.
THE ROOT
וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם
vehiqravtem
GROWS FROM
קרב
to approach, come near, or bring near
“bring near” in this verse is vehiqravtem. The verb translated “offer” literally carries the movement of bringing near. The offering is not only an object presented; its wording makes it an act of approach.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: near, close
קָרוֹב
The shared root makes nearness part of the word-family behind “offer.”
qorban: offering, that which is brought near
קָרְבָּן
This noun makes explicit the approach already present in the verse’s verb.
עֲבֹדָה
avodah
GROWS FROM
עבד
to work or serve
“work of serving” in this verse is avodah. “Servile work” belongs to the Hebrew word-family of work and service. The verse names that labor as what ceases, while its next verb names drawing near as what continues.
ALSO GROWS
avad: to work, serve
עָבַד
The verb shows the action held inside the word translated “work.”
eved: servant
עֶבֶד
This branch reveals the service-language beneath the phrase “servile work.”
THE PATTERN
Set-apart time joins a boundary around ordinary work with an act of offering to God.
For seven days you shall bring near an offering of fire to the LORD. On the eighth day there shall be a set-apart assembly for you, and you shall bring near an offering of fire to the LORD. It is a closing assembly. You shall do no work of serving in it.For the one who has entered into his settling has himself also settled from his own works, as God did from his.Let my prayer be set before you as smoke, and the lifting of my palms as the evening offering.THE THREAD
If his drawing near from the herd is a rising offering, he shall bring near a whole male to the opening of the tent of appointed meeting, and he shall bring it near of his own pleasure before the face of the LORD.The Hebrew verb translated “offer” here comes from קרב (qarab), “to bring near,” the same root as the verb in Leviticus 23:25. That root lets the two verses speak of offering as approach: labor stops, while something is brought near to the LORD.
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