What Does Leviticus 4:3 Mean?
If the anointed priest misses the mark so as to bring guilt upon the people, then let him bring near, for his falling short in which he has missed the mark, a young bull without blemish to the LORD as an offering for falling short.
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
If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.THE KEY
The anointed priest’s miss reaches beyond him: it brings guilt upon the people and calls for a costly approach to the LORD.
THE MEANING
When you carry a role others rely on, your missing can reach beyond you; being set apart to that role does not make you immune. The verse names a tangible response: an unblemished young bull is brought to the LORD for the missing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sacred role makes my failures private and consequence-free.
THE ROOT
יֶחֱטָא
yecheta
GROWS FROM
חטא
To miss or fail; here, to sin.
“misses the mark” in this verse is yecheta. The root חטא (chata, to miss) also forms חַטָּאת (chatat, sin or sin offering). The same word family names both the failure and the offering brought in response, holding the missing and its repair together.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss, fail, or sin.
חָטָא
This is the verb describing the priest’s failure; it carries the concrete sense of missing.
chatat: Sin; also a sin offering.
חַטָּאת
The verse uses this same word family for the offering, joining the missed mark to the response.
וְהִקְרִיב
vehiqriv
GROWS FROM
קרב
To come near or draw near.
“bring near” in this verse is vehiqriv. The word translated “bring” is a form of קָרַב (qarav, to draw near). The act is described through nearness: the offering is brought toward the LORD as a response to the failure.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: To draw near or approach.
קָרַב
This verb is the root sense behind bringing the offering forward.
qorban: An offering; that which is brought near.
קָרְבָּן
It makes explicit the connection between an offering and an approach.
הַמָּשִׁיחַ
ha-mashiach
GROWS FROM
משח
To smear or apply oil; to anoint.
מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach, anointed one) names the priest by the mark of his role, yet that status does not prevent him from missing. The role carries responsibility along with its setting apart.
ALSO GROWS
mashiach: Anointed one.
מָשִׁיחַ
The verse calls the priest anointed, identifying a role that does not exempt him from the passage’s claim.
mishchah: Anointing oil or anointing.
מִשְׁחָה
This branch names the act and substance that mark the priest as anointed.
THE PATTERN
Those entrusted to stand before others remain accountable for how their role affects the people.
Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the LORD spoke, saying, In those who draw near to me, I will be set apart, and before the face of all the people I will be given weight. And Aaron kept still.And the falling short of the young men was very great before the face of the LORD; for the men spurned the offering of the LORD.My brothers, do not become many teachers, knowing that we shall receive a greater judgment.THE THREAD
And when he is guilty in one of these things, he speaks his falling short into the open, in that thing in which he has missed the mark.The same root חטא (chata, to miss) appears in “hath sinned.” Here the priest’s missing calls for an offering; there the guilty person names the miss aloud, keeping acknowledgment and response joined.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us