What Does Leviticus 5:10 Mean?
And he makes the second into an ascending offering, according to the judgment; and the priest makes a covering for him from his falling short in which he has missed the mark, 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 offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.THE KEY
The verse’s hidden sequence is that a specific missing is met with covering, and covering opens into release.
THE MEANING
A real wrong is named, but it does not have the final word: the offering is given as a burnt offering, the priest makes covering for the person, and release follows. The verse holds the cost and the forgiveness together, leaving the wrong acknowledged without making it a permanent bond over the person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that a real wrong must keep the person permanently bound to it.
THE ROOT
וְכִפֶּר
ve-khipper
GROWS FROM
כפר
Cover; make atonement.
The priest’s atonement belongs to the root of covering, making the offering’s role concrete. The verse then pairs that covering with release, so the movement reaches beyond the act to the person.
ALSO GROWS
kippēr: Cover; make atonement.
כִּפֶּר
This verb is the same root in action, showing that atonement here is a covering made for the person.
kappōret: The cover of the ark, often rendered “mercy seat.”
כַּפֹּרֶת
The shared root gives the covering in this verse a tangible counterpart elsewhere in the language.
חַטָּאת
ḥaṭṭā’t
GROWS FROM
חטא
Miss; miss the mark.
“falling short” in this verse is ḥaṭṭā’t. The word translated “sin” carries the language of a missing. The verse names what has gone wrong while its final clause distinguishes the person from that wrong by naming release.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: To miss, or to do wrong.
חָטָא
This verb shows the root’s action: the person has missed the mark.
ḥēṭʾ: A missing or wrong.
חֵטְא
This noun keeps the sense of a particular failure beneath the broader English word “sin.”
וְנִסְלַח
ve-nislaḥ
GROWS FROM
סלח
Forgive, pardon; release.
“released” in this verse is ve-nislaḥ. The final word describes what happens to the person after the covering is made: release. The wrong remains named, but it no longer holds the person in the same way.
ALSO GROWS
sālaḥ: To forgive or pardon.
סָלַח
This is the verb behind the verse’s promise that the person is forgiven.
seliḥāh: Forgiveness or pardon.
סְלִיחָה
The related noun carries the same movement from wrong toward release.
THE PATTERN
A named wrong is met with covering or cleansing, and release follows.
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
Who releases all your crookedness; who heals all your sicknesses.Leviticus’s “it shall be forgiven” and the psalm’s “forgiveth” share the Hebrew root סלח (sālaḥ), meaning to pardon or release. In the psalm, that release stands beside healing, opening forgiveness toward a wider picture of restoration.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us