What Does Leviticus 27:14 Mean?
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.
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 a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand.THE KEY
A house set apart for the LORD is still given a concrete measure, and that measure determines how it stands.
THE MEANING
A house dedicated to the LORD remains concrete, with a condition and value that can be measured. Its dedication and its appraisal belong together; the valuation establishes how it stands.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that setting something apart makes its condition or worth irrelevant.
THE ROOT
יַקְדִּישׁ
yaqdish
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart, mark as sacred.
“sets apart and set apart” in this verse is yaqdish. The root holds the sense of a thing marked off as belonging to the sacred. Here the house is set apart, yet the following valuation keeps that status concrete: consecration and material worth appear in one sentence.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Holiness; what is sacred.
קֹדֶשׁ
The verse repeats this root in “to be holy,” linking the act of setting the house apart with its sacred status.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a sacred place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
This branch shows the root can describe a place marked out for the sacred, as this house is.
וְהֶעֱרִיכוֹ
ve-he'erikho
GROWS FROM
ערך
ʿ-r-kh
Arrange, set in order; by extension, assess or value.
“sets its worth” in this verse is ve-he'erikho. The priest’s estimate grows from a root that also means arranging or setting things in order. The appraisal gives the dedicated house a defined place in the measure of what is good or bad.
ALSO GROWS
ʿerekh: Value; valuation.
עֶרֶךְ
This branch makes explicit the measured worth contained in the priest’s estimate.
ma'arakhah: An array or ordered formation.
מַעֲרָכָה
Its sense of ordered placement illuminates the appraisal as a judgment that settles where the house stands.
יָקוּם
yaqum
GROWS FROM
קום
q-w-m
Rise, stand, be established.
“stand” in this verse is yaqum. The final verb gives the valuation a settled consequence: the priest’s assessment stands. The verse moves from setting apart, through appraisal, to an established standing.
ALSO GROWS
qum: Rise; stand.
קוּם
This is the basic action in the verse’s closing word: the assessment stands.
maqom: Place; a standing-place.
מָקוֹם
This branch echoes the idea of a settled position, helping show how the appraisal fixes the house’s standing.
THE PATTERN
What stands before God is not beyond evaluation; its quality is brought into the open.
Scales of deceit are an abomination to the LORD, but a whole stone is his delight.Each one's work will be made visible, for the day will show it, because it is uncovered in fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?THE THREAD
And the priest sets its worth, whether good or bad; as you set its worth, you who are the priest, so it is.The same root, ערך (ʿ-r-kh), meaning to arrange or assess, governs the priest’s valuation in both verses. Together they show the assessment naming the item’s condition and fixing its standing.
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