What Does Leviticus 6:16 Mean?
And what remains of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. With unleavened bread it shall be eaten in the set-apart place. In the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it.
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 the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.THE KEY
What remains from the offering is not waste; it becomes food within the set-apart meal.
THE MEANING
What remains stays within the offering’s purpose: it becomes food for Aaron and his sons in the set-apart place. The verse joins nourishment to meeting with God, giving the remainder a place in the sacred meal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that whatever remains after an offering is merely waste: the remainder has an appointed place and becomes food.
THE ROOT
הַנּוֹתֶרֶת
hanōṯereṯ
GROWS FROM
יתר
y-t-r
To remain over, be left, or exceed.
The root links what is left over with what is “more”: the remainder is what stays after a portion is taken. Here, what remains still belongs to the offering’s purpose, it is received as food, not treated as discard.
ALSO GROWS
yeter: Remainder; what is left over.
יֶתֶר
It shares the root of “remainder” and makes clear that what stays is still a portion.
yoter: More; beyond.
יוֹתֵר
It carries the sense of what is left beyond a first portion, illuminating how the verse gives the remaining portion its own place.
yitron: Gain; advantage; profit.
יִתְרוֹן
This branch shows the root can describe what remains as something of value, echoing the verse’s treatment of the remainder as food.
קָדֹשׁ
qadosh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart; to mark as distinct for a purpose.
“set-apart place” in this verse is qadosh. The meal takes place in a space set apart for meeting with God. The root shows that the remainder is not merely left behind: it is eaten within the offering’s designated space.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Set-apartness; sacredness.
קֹדֶשׁ
It names the quality of the place where the remainder is eaten.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
It shares the root and shows how set-apartness can name a place for encounter.
THE PATTERN
Eating can belong within sacred relationship: food is received and shared in the presence of God.
Aaron and his sons eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket at the opening of the tent of meeting.And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you stretch out your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the end that God is given weight.THE THREAD
And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, Take the grain offering that remains from the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, for it is most set apart.The word translated “remaineth” comes from the same y-t-r root as “remainder” here, and it is paired with the instruction to eat. The shared root opens “remainder” as a portion still held within the offering’s purpose.
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