What Does Leviticus 5:15 Mean?
If a living soul acts treacherously and misses the mark through straying in the set-apart things of the LORD, then he brings to the LORD a whole ram from the flock, by your valuation in silver shekels, by the set-apart shekel, as a guilt offering.
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 a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:THE KEY
Even an unseen breach is treated as a real breach of trust, and its repair is measured rather than vague.
THE MEANING
A blind spot does not make a breach weightless. When you violate what is set apart for God without knowing, this verse makes repair tangible: an unblemished ram is brought, and its value is reckoned in silver by the sanctuary measure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If I did not mean to violate what is sacred, there is nothing to repair.
THE ROOT
מַעַל
ma'al
GROWS FROM
מעל
To act treacherously, deal unfaithfully, or breach a trust.
“acts treacherously” in this verse is ma'al. The verse repeats this root in its verb and noun, intensifying the breach as an act of violated trust. The word carries the sense of unfaithfulness alongside trespass, showing that what is set apart has been mishandled as a trust.
ALSO GROWS
me'ilah: Sacrilege; violation of what is sacred.
מְעִילָה
This branch names a breach involving sacred things, illuminating why the verse focuses on what is set apart to the LORD.
ma'al: Treachery; unfaithfulness.
מַעַל
This noun names the breach of trust beneath the English boundary-crossing image of trespass.
מִקָּדְשֵׁי
miqqodshei
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart or consecrate.
“set-apart things” in this verse is miqqodshei. The breach concerns things set apart to the LORD, so the root gives the offense a concrete object and relationship. The same root forms the word for sanctuary, linking the sacred things to the place set apart for them.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; consecrated.
קָדוֹשׁ
This branch expresses the status of the things whose misuse the verse addresses.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
This branch connects the set-apart things in the verse with the sanctuary measure used to value the offering.
THE PATTERN
A breach that carries material cost calls for material repair.
If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and slaughter it, or sell it; he shall make whole five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of what I have to the emptied, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I give back fourfold."THE THREAD
If a living soul misses the mark, crossing over against the LORD, and lies to his neighbor in what was placed in his hand to keep, or in what was held in common, or in what was torn away by force, or has pressed his neighbor;The same Hebrew root for trespass appears here, describing a breach against the LORD alongside deception about a neighbor’s property. It shows how the breach in Leviticus 5:15 can touch both what is set apart for God and what is entrusted between people.
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