What Does Leviticus 27:25 Mean?
And all your arranged worth is according to the shekel of the set-apart place; twenty gerahs make the shekel.
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 all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.THE KEY
The verse makes valuation answer to a fixed weight, turning an estimate into a measured amount.
THE MEANING
A value is held to a standard shared beyond the person naming it. Here the measure is concrete: the sanctuary shekel equals twenty gerahs, so an estimate can be checked rather than drifting with preference.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a value is fair merely because someone has assigned it.
THE ROOT
שֶׁקֶל
sheqel
GROWS FROM
שקל
sh-q-l
To weigh or weigh out
English can make “shekel” sound like a currency label, but its root carries the act of weighing. The valuation in this verse is anchored to weight: the measure is specific and countable, twenty gerahs.
ALSO GROWS
shāqal: To weigh or weigh out
שָׁקַל
This verb makes the physical act inside the word “shekel” visible: value is weighed against a measure.
mishqāl: Weight or measure
מִשְׁקָל
This related word shows the root extending from weighing to the weight used as a standard.
עֶרְכְּךָ
ʿerkeḵā
GROWS FROM
ערך
ʿ-r-k
To arrange or set in order
“arranged worth” in this verse is ʿerkeḵā. The word rendered “estimations” belongs to a root of arranging and setting things in order. English can make an estimate sound like a personal impression; this root suggests a value placed within an order, and the verse names the measure that orders it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāraḵ: To arrange or set in order
עָרַךְ
The valuation word grows from the idea of placing something within an order, rather than leaving it as an undefined impression.
maʿărāḵāh: An arrangement or array
מַעֲרָכָה
This branch carries the same root into an ordered array, echoing the verse’s movement from valuation to a defined measure.
THE PATTERN
Judgment and valuation take their shape from the measure applied.
This they shall give, everyone who crosses over among those counted, half a shekel by the shekel of the set apart place, twenty gerahs to the shekel; half a shekel shall be the lifted offering for the LORD.Scales of deceit are an abomination to the LORD, but a whole stone is his delight.For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you.THE THREAD
This they shall give, everyone who crosses over among those counted, half a shekel by the shekel of the set apart place, twenty gerahs to the shekel; half a shekel shall be the lifted offering for the LORD.Both verses name the sanctuary shekel and the same twenty-gerah measure. Exodus uses that fixed unit for a shared contribution, showing the same standard governing both valuation and giving.
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