What Does Leviticus 4:13 Mean?
And if the whole assembly of Israel misses the mark through straying, and the word is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do against one of the commandments of the LORD, concerning the things which ought not to be done, and they are guilty;
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 the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;THE KEY
What the whole community cannot see can still implicate the whole community.
THE MEANING
A whole community can carry an error that remains outside its shared awareness. The lack of recognition does not make the act unreal; the community is still answerable for what it has done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Not knowing about a wrong does not mean it has no effect or belongs to no one.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁגּוּ
yishgu
GROWS FROM
שגה
To stray or err, including by inadvertence; the root שָׁגָה (shagah) pictures losing the way.
“sin through ignorance” in this verse is yishgu. The Hebrew names the congregation’s act with a verb for straying or erring. It connects the hidden wrongdoing to a loss of the way that can happen before the community recognizes it.
ALSO GROWS
shegi'ah: An error or mistake
שְׁגִיאָה
Psalm 19:12 uses this related form for errors a person may not understand, linking the congregation’s unrecognized act to the limits of anyone’s own perception.
shagah: To stray or err
שָׁגָה
This verb makes the movement in the verse clearer: the community has wandered from the commandment, even while the error remains unseen.
וְנֶעְלַם
veneʿlam
GROWS FROM
עלם
To be hidden or concealed from view; the form וְנֶעְלַם (veneʿlam) means “and it is hidden.”
“be hid” in this verse is veneʿlam. The wording presents the matter as hidden from the assembly’s eyes, not as something that never happened. Hiddenness and error sit together in the verse, followed by the statement that the congregation is answerable.
ALSO GROWS
neʿlam: Hidden or concealed
נֶעְלָם
This form describes the matter’s absence from shared awareness, which the verse holds alongside the community’s responsibility.
heʿlim: To conceal or hide
הֶעְלִים
The related causative form shows the same root can name the act of making something hidden as well as the state of being hidden.
THE PATTERN
An unrecognized act can still affect the whole community that carries it.
Then it shall be, if anything is done in straying, hidden from the eyes of the assembly, that all the assembly shall offer one young bull as a rising offering, for a scent that settles to the LORD, with his gift and his poured offering, according to the judgment, and one young goat as an offering for falling short.But the children of Israel broke trust with the devoted thing, for Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from the devoted thing, and the burning of the LORD's anger flared against the children of Israel.Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?THE THREAD
Who can tell the wanderings apart? From what is hidden, cleanse me.Psalm 19:12 uses a related form of שגה (shagah) for errors a person may not understand, then speaks of faults hidden from view. It connects the congregation’s unseen straying to the reader’s own unrecognized errors.
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