What Does Leviticus 27:9 Mean?
And if it is a beast that men bring as a drawing near to the LORD, all that any man gives of such to the LORD is set apart.
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 if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto the LORD shall be holy.THE KEY
The offering is a drawing-near, and the animal given to the LORD is set apart through that approach.
THE MEANING
When you give something to the LORD, it enters a set-apart relation: the gift is no longer treated as common. This verse holds together two movements, drawing near and becoming set apart.
THE ROOT
קָרְבָּן
qorbān
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Approach; move or bring near.
“drawing near” in this verse is qorbān. Qorbān (קָרְבָּן, drawing-near offering) comes from the root of approaching: this gift is named by its movement toward the LORD. The verse then calls the given animal qōdesh (קֹדֶשׁ, set-apartness), bringing nearness and set-apart status together in the same act.
ALSO GROWS
qārab: Approach, draw near.
קָרַב
The verb names the movement contained in the word for offering.
hiqriv: Bring near; present as an offering.
הִקְרִיב
This form describes bringing something near to the LORD, as the verse does with the animal.
qārōv: Near.
קָרוֹב
The same root describes nearness as a state, linking the offered gift to the approach it makes.
קֹדֶשׁ
qōdesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; consecrate, make sacred.
The animal is not described as holy by its kind alone; the verse names it as set apart in relation to the LORD through what is given. This root also names the sanctuary and the act of consecration, so set-apartness is a status that shapes where something belongs and how it is used.
ALSO GROWS
qādōsh: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
This is the related adjective describing what belongs in a set-apart relation.
miqdāsh: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary shows the same root marking a place as belonging to the sacred.
qiddēsh: Consecrate; set apart.
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb names the act that places something into the status described in the verse.
THE PATTERN
What is yielded to the LORD enters a set-apart relation and use.
Set apart to me every firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, of humankind and of beast; it is mine.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.You also, as living stones, are built up into a house of breath, a set-apart priesthood, to carry up sacrifices of breath, well received by God through Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Set apart to me every firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, of humankind and of beast; it is mine.Both verses use the Hebrew root קדש (q-d-sh), meaning set apart or consecrate. Here an animal given as an offering is set apart; in Exodus, the firstborn is set apart as belonging to the LORD.
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