What Does Leviticus 27:12 Mean?
And the priest sets its worth, whether good or bad; as you set its worth, you who are the priest, so it is.
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 the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be.THE KEY
The thing is still given a value whether its condition is good or bad; neither condition removes it from the reckoning.
THE MEANING
What is before you can be assessed in its actual condition, whether good or bad. The priest’s valuation establishes how it is reckoned.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that only what is in good condition can be counted: the verse includes both conditions in the assessment.
THE ROOT
וְהֶעֱרִיךְ
ve-he’erikh
GROWS FROM
ערך
ʿ-r-kh
To arrange or set in order; in this verb form, to assess or value.
“sets its worth” in this verse is ve-he’erikh. The verb translated “value” comes from a root that also describes arranging or setting things in order. The priest’s assessment places the item within a recognized measure, accounting for its condition rather than excluding it because it is good or bad.
ALSO GROWS
ʿērekh: Value; valuation.
עֵרֶךְ
This related noun names an assessed value, making clear that the priest’s action gives the item a defined reckoning.
maʿărākhāh: Array; arrangement.
מַעֲרָכָה
This branch preserves the root’s sense of setting things in order, illuminating valuation as placing something within a measure.
THE PATTERN
Sound judgment reaches beyond surface appearance and rests on a measure that accounts for what is actually there.
Scales of deceit are an abomination to the LORD, but a whole stone is his delight.But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.Therefore, judge nothing before its season, until the Lord comes, who will light up the hidden things of darkness, and will make visible the plans of the hearts. And then the praise will come to each one from God.THE THREAD
And when a man sets his house apart to be set apart to the LORD, then the priest sets its worth, whether good or bad; as the priest sets it, so it stands.The same root, ערך (ʿ-r-kh), “to arrange or assess,” appears in the priest’s valuation of a house. The verse extends this measure from an individual item to a whole household: in both cases, the priest’s assessment establishes the reckoning.
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