What Does Leviticus 27:32 Mean?
And concerning the tenth of the herd or of the flock, even of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth is set apart to the LORD.
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 concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.THE KEY
The flock’s sacred share is not added from outside; it is disclosed by the count as each animal passes beneath the rod.
THE MEANING
As the herd or flock passes under the rod, its tenth is marked out unto the LORD. The counted share is already within what is passing; its distinctness comes from being set apart. Here, holiness names that directed belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The tithe is an amount chosen freely after the whole is counted; here, the verse names a specific tenth from among what passes beneath the rod.
THE ROOT
מַעֲשֵׂר
maʿaser
GROWS FROM
עשר
Ten; the count from which “tenth” and “tithe” are formed.
Maʿaser (מַעֲשֵׂר, tithe) is built from עשר (ʿ-ś-r, ten): the sacred share is literally a counted tenth, not an undefined portion. The verse also uses the related ordinal עֲשִׂירִי (ʿasiri, tenth), keeping the count visible where English gives two different words.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeser: Ten, the cardinal number.
עֶשֶׂר
The seed meaning makes the tithe a measured share rather than a generic gift.
ʿasiri: Tenth, the ordinal form.
עֲשִׂירִי
This is the verse’s word for the counted portion made set apart.
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart as sacred.
“set apart” in this verse is qodesh. The tenth is called qodesh (קֹדֶשׁ, set-apartness) unto the LORD. This root also forms the verb for setting apart and the word for a sanctuary, so “holy” carries the sense of a portion marked out in belonging.
ALSO GROWS
qiddesh: To set apart or consecrate.
קִדֵּשׁ
The verb shows the action held within the tenth’s designation: setting it apart.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary shares this root of set-apartness, linking the marked portion with a place devoted unto the LORD.
THE PATTERN
A measured tenth is singled out from the whole as a portion belonging in relation to God.
And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him a tenth of all.And all the tenth of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's; it is set apart to the LORD.To him Abraham also gave a tenth of all, first, being interpreted, king of alignment, and then also king of Salem, the king of wholeness.THE THREAD
And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him a tenth of all.The word translated “tithes” here is מַעֲשֵׂר (maʿaser, tithe), carrying the same עשר (ʿ-ś-r, ten) root as the counted tenth in Leviticus. Genesis presents that measured share as given from the whole; Leviticus shows the tenth being marked out as set apart unto the LORD.
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