What Does Leviticus 25:18 Mean?
So you shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them, and you shall settle on the land, leaning your full weight.
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
Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.THE KEY
The verse binds secure dwelling to a word for safety that also carries the sense of trust and confidence.
THE MEANING
The verse addresses your present dwelling: the place you inhabit is secure as decrees are guarded and judgments are enacted. Its word for “safety” also carries the sense of trust and confidence, joining outward security with the inward ability to settle.
THE ROOT
לָבֶטַח
lāveṭaḥ
GROWS FROM
בטח
b-ṭ-ḥ
Trust, confidence, or feeling secure.
“leaning your full weight” in this verse is lāveṭaḥ. The word rendered “safety” belongs to the same root as trust and confidence. The promise holds both outward security and the inward certainty that lets you settle without fear.
ALSO GROWS
bāṭaḥ: To trust or feel secure.
בָּטַח
This verb shows the trust contained in the word translated “safety.”
mivṭāḥ: Security, confidence, or refuge.
מִבְטָח
This branch makes the root’s movement between inward confidence and a secure place visible.
תִּשְׁמְרוּ
tišmerū
GROWS FROM
שמר
š-m-r
To keep watch, guard, or preserve.
“keep” in this verse is tišmerū. The keeping here carries the sense of active guarding. The verse links secure dwelling with a way of life in which judgments are watched over and put into practice.
ALSO GROWS
šōmēr: A watcher, watchman, or guardian.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch reveals the watchful quality within “keep.”
mišmeret: A watch, charge, or guard.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
It shows keeping as an ongoing responsibility that protects what has been entrusted.
וִישַׁבְתֶּם
višavtem
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-š-b
To sit, remain, or dwell.
“settle” in this verse is višavtem. The verb belongs to a root of sitting and remaining, so the promise is settled inhabitation, not passing shelter. The verse moves from guarded practice to a place where you can remain.
ALSO GROWS
mōšāv: A dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch brings out the settled place contained in the verb “dwell.”
tōšāv: A resident or settler.
תּוֹשָׁב
It shows the same root describing someone who remains in a place.
THE PATTERN
When a way of order is guarded and enacted, dwelling can become secure.
And your treading shall touch the vintage, and the vintage shall touch the sowing, and you shall eat your bread until you are filled, and dwell safely in your land.But whoever hears and responds to me settles in safety, and rests from the dread of evil.And the one who guards his commands remains in him, and he in him. And by this we know that he remains in us, from the breath that he gave us.THE THREAD
In wholeness, together, I lie down and sleep. For you, LORD, alone, make me settle where I can lean.Psalm 4:8 uses the same Hebrew word לָבֶטַח (lāveṭaḥ, “in safety”) and pairs it with lying down and sleeping. It reveals that the security named here is also the confidence in which a person can rest.
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