What Does Leviticus 3:2 Mean?
He leans his hand upon the head of his drawing near, and slaughters it at the opening of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons, the priests, dash its blood upon the altar all around.
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 he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.THE KEY
The word translated “offering” carries the idea of drawing near, and the hand on its head makes that approach bodily before blood reaches the altar.
THE MEANING
The verse places you at the threshold: a hand rests on the offering’s head, its life is taken, and its blood is cast around the altar. Drawing near is given bodily form, carrying contact, death, and blood into the place of encounter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It unsettles the belief that drawing near is weightless or purely inward: here, approach involves touch, blood, and cost.
THE ROOT
קָרְבָּנוֹ
qorbano
GROWS FROM
קָרַב
To approach, come near, or bring near.
“drawing near” in this verse is qorbano. The word rendered “offering” here is qorban, from the root for coming near or bringing near. Hebrew keeps the approach inside the offering’s name: the worshiper draws near through what is brought near.
ALSO GROWS
qarab: To draw near; to approach.
קָרַב
This verb names the movement inside the offering’s root: the offering belongs to an act of approach.
qarov: Near; close.
קָרוֹב
The same word family makes nearness the shared idea behind what is brought to the altar.
וְסָמַךְ
vesamakh
GROWS FROM
סָמַךְ
To lean upon, support, or place against.
“leans his hand” in this verse is vesamakh. The verb translated “lay” belongs to a root that also means lean or support. The hand-on-head gesture carries the sense of resting upon what is offered, not merely passing over it.
ALSO GROWS
somekh: One who supports or upholds.
סוֹמֵךְ
The same root can describe support, giving the hand’s placement a sense of weight-bearing contact.
samukh: Supported; stayed upon.
סָמוּךְ
The root can describe something resting upon another, echoing the hand set upon the offering.
THE PATTERN
Drawing near takes bodily form: what is brought near is touched, given, and presented at the place of encounter.
And he shall lean his hand upon the head of the rising offering, and it shall be pleasing for him, to cover over him.You bring the young bull near before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons lean their hands upon the head of the young bull.Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.THE THREAD
The LORD props up all who fall, and straightens all who are bent.The Hebrew root סָמַךְ (samakh, to lean or support) supplies both the verb translated “lay” in Leviticus and the word translated “upholdeth” here. That shared root brings the sense of support into the hand resting on the offering.
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