What Does Leviticus 26:46 Mean?

These are the statutes and judgments and instructions, which the LORD set between him and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
Leviticus 26:46 · SDV
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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording
These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

What looks like a stack of separate rules is named as what the LORD places between himself and a people, the structure of their relationship.

The LORD’s relationship with a people takes shape through instruction, discernment, and ordinances set between them. These are given through a human hand: Moses, whose name is linked to being drawn out.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the idea that these are disconnected rules with no relational center: the verse names them as what is set between the LORD and a people.

תּוֹרוֹת

torot

GROWS FROM

ירה

To point or direct; in an instructional form, to teach or guide.

“instructions” in this verse is torot. The plural torot carries the sense of instruction that directs. Alongside judgments and ordinances, it describes a way of orientation within the bond the verse says is set between the LORD and a people.

ALSO GROWS

yarah: To throw or shoot; to direct.

יָרָה

The image of directing illuminates instruction as guidance toward a way.

moreh: Teacher or instructor.

מוֹרֶה

The instructor is one who points the way, keeping instruction connected to direction.

נָתַן

natan

GROWS FROM

נתן

To give, set, or place.

“set” in this verse is natan. The word rendered “made” carries the root sense of giving or placing. The instruction is presented as something the LORD sets between himself and Israel, giving the relationship a concrete shape.

ALSO GROWS

mattanah: Gift.

מַתָּנָה

This branch shows the root’s giving sense as something bestowed.

natan: To give, set, or place.

נָתַן

Here the LORD gives and places the instruction between himself and the people.

מֹשֶׁה

Mosheh

GROWS FROM

משה

To draw out.

Moses’ name is linked to being drawn out. The verse’s image of instruction coming through his hand carries that name’s sense into the closing line.

ALSO GROWS

mashah: To draw out.

מָשָׁה

This is the verb linked to Moses’ name in the account of his naming.

meshitihu: I drew him out.

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

This form appears in the naming explanation, connecting Moses’ name to the act of drawing out.

Divine instruction gives a relationship visible shape by directing a people and being set before them and within them.

And what nation is so great, that has statutes and judgments so aligned as all this instruction which I set before you this day?
Deuteronomy 4:8 · SDVInstruction is set before the people as a visible structure for their shared life.
Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105 · SDVThe word directs the reader’s steps, showing instruction as guidance along a way.
For this is the covenant that I will set in place with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will give my instructions into their minds, and scratch them upon their hearts. And I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people.
Hebrews 8:10 · SDVThe instruction set between the LORD and the people is also described as written within them.
And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, the one drawn out, and she said, Because from the waters I drew him out.
Exodus 2:10 · SDV

Exodus links Moses’ name to mashah, “to draw out,” in the naming itself. Leviticus closes with instruction passing through the hand of Mosheh, whose name carries that image of being drawn out.

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Leviticus 26:46 Meaning