What Does Leviticus 5:16 Mean?
And he makes whole what he has missed from the set-apart thing, and adds its fifth upon it, and gives it to the priest; and the priest makes a covering for him with the ram of the guilt offering, 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 make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.THE KEY
Here forgiveness does not leave the loss behind: what was diminished in the set-apart thing is repaid with an added fifth before covering is made.
THE MEANING
When what is set apart is harmed, the loss has a measurable return: the original amount is repaid, with a fifth added. The priest makes covering for the trespass with the ram, and the person is released from the charge. Repair addresses what was diminished; pardon addresses the one responsible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Forgiveness means the material harm can simply be ignored.
THE ROOT
יְשַׁלֵּם
yeshallēm
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
š-l-m
Be whole or complete; make whole, repay.
“makes whole” in this verse is yeshallēm. The word translated “make amends” shares a root with both wholeness and repayment: repair is not merely an inward feeling but a return that makes good what was damaged. The added fifth gives that restoration a concrete surplus.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, completeness, well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
This branch shows the larger aim carried by the repair: the damaged thing moves toward wholeness.
shillem: Repay, make restitution.
שִׁלֵּם
This branch makes the verse’s repair tangible: what is owed is paid back.
יְכַפֵּר
yekapper
GROWS FROM
כפר
k-p-r
Cover; make covering.
The priest’s act is expressed with the covering-root, distinguishing the covering of the trespass from making the sacred loss whole. The ram participates in that covering, and forgiveness is the result named at the end of the verse.
ALSO GROWS
kippur: Covering, atonement.
כִּפֻּר
This word preserves the covering image in the priest’s act.
kōpher: Covering price, ransom.
כֹּפֶר
It shows this root can also describe a payment that covers a claim, resonating with the ram in the verse.
הַקֹּדֶשׁ
ha-qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; dedicate as sacred.
“set-apart thing” in this verse is ha-qodesh. The loss is not generic property damage: it reaches something marked as set apart. The verse locates repair at the boundary between what is common and what is dedicated.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart, sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
This branch makes clear why the damaged thing carries a distinct claim on repair.
qiddesh: Set apart, consecrate.
קִדֵּשׁ
This branch shows the active sense of marking something for sacred use.
THE PATTERN
When harm creates a debt, restoration is concrete: the loss is returned with an added measure.
Then they speak their falling short into the open, which they have done; and he makes his crossing over whole, with its head, and adds to it a fifth of it, and gives it to the one against whom he crossed over.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
Offer to God thanksgiving, and make whole your vows to the Most High.The Hebrew verb behind “pay” here is שׁלם (sh-l-m, “make whole, complete”), the same root behind “make amends” in Leviticus. In both verses, what is owed reaches completion through repayment.
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