What Does Leviticus 5:7 Mean?
And if his hand does not reach a lamb, then he brings to the LORD, for his guilt offering, the guilt wherein he has missed the mark, two turtledoves or two young pigeons; one as an offering for falling short, and the other as the ascending 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
And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.THE KEY
The offering is measured by what the hand can reach: when a lamb is beyond reach, two birds still come to the LORD.
THE MEANING
When your hand cannot reach the lamb, the verse gives another form of approach: two birds brought to the LORD. One addresses the missing; the other is an offering that rises. Your limit changes what you bring, but it does not erase the offering named here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that only a lamb-sized offering can reach the LORD is undone: the verse makes room for what your hand can reach.
THE ROOT
חַטָּאת
ḥaṭṭāʾt
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥṭʾ
to miss, fail, or sin
“offering for falling short” in this verse is ḥaṭṭāʾt. The offering’s name shares its root with the verb for missing or sinning. The root joins the missing act and the offering that addresses it within one word-family.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: to miss or sin
חָטָא
This verb uses the same root to name the act the offering meets.
ḥōṭēʾ: one who misses or sins
חוֹטֵא
The root names the person through the same missing that gives the offering its name.
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿlh
to rise or go up
“ascending offering” in this verse is ʿōlāh. The English name describes the burning; the Hebrew name carries the motion of rising. Alongside the offering for the missing, the verse names one that ascends to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: to rise or go up
עָלָה
This is the verb whose upward motion is held in the offering’s name.
heʿĕlāh: to bring up or cause to rise
הֶעֱלָה
This related form makes the offering’s upward movement concrete: something is brought up to the LORD.
THE PATTERN
An offering is measured by what a person has and can reach, so scarcity changes its form without closing the approach.
And if her hand does not reach enough for a lamb, she takes two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one as a rising offering and the other as an offering for falling short, and the priest makes a covering for her, and she is clean.Each one shall give according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you.For if the leaning heart is there first, it is well received according to what one has, and not according to what one does not have.THE THREAD
Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a living soul misses the mark through straying from any of the commandments of the LORD, concerning the things which ought not to be done, and does against one of them;The verb translated “sin” here is חָטָא (ḥāṭāʾ, to miss or sin), from the same root as חַטָּאת (ḥaṭṭāʾt, missing or sin offering) in the current verse. The shared root holds the missing act and the offering that addresses it within one word-family.
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