What Does Leviticus 27:33 Mean?
He does not search whether it is good or bad, nor does he exchange it; and if he at all exchanges it, then both it and the one given in its place are set apart, and it is not bought back.
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
He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.THE KEY
A substitution does not cancel what has been set apart; the substitute joins it.
THE MEANING
The verse draws a boundary around what is set apart: judging the animal good or bad does not reopen it to selection. If an exchange happens, both the original and its substitute remain set apart, and neither can be reclaimed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A more suitable replacement can undo the first animal’s consecration.
THE ROOT
יְמִירֶנּוּ
yemirennu
GROWS FROM
מוּר
mur
To exchange or substitute, putting one thing in place of another.
Hebrew repeats the verb for exchange, foregrounding the act of substitution. The related noun תְּמוּרָה (temurah, “substitute” or “exchange”) shows that the replacement belongs to the same word family; here the exchange attaches consecration to both animals instead of transferring it from one to the other.
ALSO GROWS
hemir: To exchange or substitute.
הֵמִיר
This verb names the act the verse says cannot undo the animal’s set-apart status.
temurah: A substitute or exchange.
תְּמוּרָה
The noun names the replacement itself, which the verse includes alongside the original in the consecration.
יִגָּאֵל
yiggāʾēl
GROWS FROM
גָּאַל
ga'al
To reclaim or redeem; in some settings, to reclaim as a near kinsman.
“bought back” in this verse is yiggāʾēl. The closing word comes from a reclaiming root; גֹּאֵל (go’el, “kinsman-redeemer”) names one who reclaims on behalf of family. The verse closes that route too: neither animal can be reclaimed from its set-apart status.
ALSO GROWS
go’el: A kinsman-redeemer or one who reclaims.
גֹּאֵל
This branch makes the reclaiming sense of “redeemed” visible in the verse’s final boundary.
ge’ullah: Redemption or reclamation.
גְּאֻלָּה
This noun names the act the verse says cannot return either animal from consecration.
THE PATTERN
A designation as belonging to God is not undone by a later change in value, form, or circumstance.
He does not switch it, nor exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good; and if he at all exchanges beast for beast, then it and the one given in its place are set apart.But the tenths of the children of Israel, which they lift up to the LORD as a lifted offering, I have given to the Levites as a holding. Therefore I have said to them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no holding.For the favors and the calling of God are not taken back.THE THREAD
He does not switch it, nor exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good; and if he at all exchanges beast for beast, then it and the one given in its place are set apart.Both verses use מוּר (mur, “exchange or substitute”) for the attempted change. Leviticus 27:10 makes explicit what 27:33 compresses: exchanging one animal for another does not move the consecration; both remain set apart.
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