What Does Leviticus 4:26 Mean?
And he sends all its fat up in smoke upon the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of wholeness, and the priest makes a covering for him concerning his falling short, and it is released to him.
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 burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.THE KEY
Here, atonement is named as covering the missing, and the verse ends with the person released.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a person’s missing in view and names covering as the act made for them; it ends in release. All the fat is burned in the same pattern as the wholeness offerings, placing the addressing of missing beside wholeness. The person is not reduced to the missing the verse names.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a named failure makes release impossible: here, covering and release follow the naming of the missing.
THE ROOT
וְכִפֶּר
ve-khipper
GROWS FROM
כפר
Cover; make a covering.
“makes a covering for him” in this verse is ve-khipper. The root makes the verse’s word for atonement tangible as covering. The action addresses the missing, and the verse’s final words describe the person being released.
ALSO GROWS
kippur: Covering; atonement.
כִּפּוּר
This ritual noun keeps the covering sense present in the word translated “atonement.”
kapporet: The cover or lid of the ark, often called the mercy seat.
כַּפֹּרֶת
This word for a physical cover shows the same root in a concrete form.
הַשְּׁלָמִים
ha-shelamim
GROWS FROM
שלם
Be whole, complete, or intact.
The offerings called “peace offerings” carry the root of wholeness. The verse places the burning of the fat for the missing alongside the pattern of wholeness offerings.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness; well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
This familiar word reveals the wholeness held within the offering’s name.
shalem: Whole; complete.
שָׁלֵם
This form makes the root’s sense of completeness explicit.
חַטָּאתוֹ
chatta'to
GROWS FROM
חטא
Miss; err.
“concerning his falling short” in this verse is chatta'to. The root gives sin the concrete shape of a miss or deviation. Here that miss is what the covering addresses, while the verse’s final clause releases the person.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss; to err.
חָטָא
The verb shows the root as an action, giving “sin” the sense of missing.
chatta't: A missing or sin; also a sin offering.
חַטָּאת
The noun connects the missing named in the verse with the offering brought in response.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly places release after a person’s missing is named and covered or cleansed.
A Psalm of David, Maschil. Flourishing is the one whose rebellion is released, whose shortcomings are covered.And he touched it to my mouth, and said, Look, this has touched your lips, and your crookedness turns aside, and your falling short is covered.If we speak our shortcomings into the open, he is steady and aligned, to release our shortcomings, and to cleanse us from all crookedness.THE THREAD
And he touched it to my mouth, and said, Look, this has touched your lips, and your crookedness turns aside, and your falling short is covered.Isaiah uses the same Hebrew root, כפר (k-p-r), in the word translated “purged” that Leviticus uses for “make an atonement.” The root links the altar’s covering here with the coal’s touch there: in both verses, a person’s missing is addressed and the verse moves to release.
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