What Does Leviticus 4:18 Mean?
And he sets some of the blood upon the horns of the altar before the LORD, in the tent of meeting, and pours out all the blood at the foundation of the altar of the rising offering, which is at the opening of the tent of meeting.
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 put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.THE KEY
The altar’s Hebrew name grows from the root of sacrifice, and the blood reaches from its horns down to its foundation.
THE MEANING
The altar before the LORD is touched at its projecting horns, and all the blood is poured at its foundation. The verse holds both actions together, carrying the rite from the altar’s outward edges to what supports it.
THE ROOT
מִזְבֵּחַ
mizbēaḥ
GROWS FROM
זבח
Slaughter as an offering; sacrifice.
The altar’s Hebrew name belongs to the same root family as sacrifice and slaughter. Here, blood is placed on the structure named by that act, then poured down to its foundation.
ALSO GROWS
zābaḥ: To slaughter for sacrifice
זָבַח
The verb names the act from which the altar’s name is formed.
zebaḥ: A sacrifice or slaughtered offering
זֶבַח
This branch keeps the offering and the altar in the same root family.
קַרְנֹת
qarnōt
GROWS FROM
קרן
Horn or projecting point; the root family also carries the image of radiating rays.
The same root family names a horn and gives the verb for rays shining or projecting outward. The blood touches the altar’s outward-reaching points, a connection English leaves hidden behind the word “horns.”
ALSO GROWS
qeren: Horn; a projecting point
קֶרֶן
This is the singular form behind the altar’s horns.
qāran: To shine or send out rays
קָרַן
This verb shares the root’s image of something projecting outward from a point.
יְסוֹד
yesōd
GROWS FROM
יסד
To lay a foundation; to establish.
The “bottom” is called the foundation, from a root meaning to found or establish. The blood’s downward endpoint is the altar’s supporting base, joining the rite’s outward reach to what holds the structure up.
ALSO GROWS
yāsad: To lay a foundation or establish
יָסַד
The verb reveals the action behind the noun naming where the blood is poured.
mōsād: Foundation or established structure
מוֹסָד
This related noun keeps the root’s sense of a base that has been set in place.
THE PATTERN
In the sacrificial pattern, blood is deliberately applied to the altar and sanctuary structures themselves.
You take some of the blood of the young bull, and set it upon the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out all the blood at the foundation of the altar.And he slaughtered it, and Moses took the blood, and set it upon the horns of the altar all around with his finger, and cleansed the altar of its falling short, and poured the blood at the foundation of the altar, and set it apart, to make a covering upon it.And the tent too, and all the vessels of the service, he likewise sprinkled with blood.THE THREAD
And he slaughtered it, and Moses took the blood, and set it upon the horns of the altar all around with his finger, and cleansed the altar of its falling short, and poured the blood at the foundation of the altar, and set it apart, to make a covering upon it.This verse repeats the same Hebrew words for the altar’s horns and foundation, making the blood’s path from projecting edge to base explicit. It also names the result: the altar is purified and set apart.
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