What Does Leviticus 6:26 Mean?
The priest who offers it for falling short shall eat it. In the set-apart place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting.
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
The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.THE KEY
The priest who performs the rite for the missing does not merely present the offering; he eats it within the set-apart court.
THE MEANING
The priest performs the rite for the missing and eats its offering inside the tabernacle’s court. The verse holds the act of addressing the missing together with receiving nourishment: the priest who handles the offering also takes it into himself as food.
THE ROOT
הַמְחַטֵּא
hamḥaṭṭē
GROWS FROM
חטא
To miss, go wrong, or fall short.
“offers it for falling short” in this verse is hamḥaṭṭē. The Hebrew verb behind “offereth it for sin” comes from חטא (chata, to miss or go wrong), the same root that names the missing and the offering associated with it. The priest who performs this rite then eats the offering, so what addresses the missing becomes food he receives within the set-apart court.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss, go wrong, or sin.
חָטָא
This verb names the missing that lies beneath the priestly rite.
chatat: Missing or sin; also an offering for sin.
חַטָּאת
The offering carries the same root that names what it addresses.
ḥiṭṭē: To cleanse or purify.
חִטֵּא
This related form shows the root’s movement from missing toward cleansing, a shade carried by the priestly verb in this verse.
THE PATTERN
In altar service, the offering is received as food by the one who ministers there.
Why have you not eaten the offering for falling short in the set-apart place, for it is most set apart, and God has given it to you to carry the crookedness of the assembly, to cover them before the face of the LORD?The priests, the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, have no portion nor inheritance with Israel; they eat the LORD's offerings of fire, and his inheritance.Look at Israel according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the slain offerings sharers in common of the altar?THE THREAD
If you do well, will you not be lifted up? And if you do not do well, falling short crouches at the door. Its reaching is toward you, and you shall rule over it.Genesis uses חַטָּאת (chatat, missing or sin), from the root חטא (chata, to miss or go wrong), which is also present in the priestly verb here. In Genesis the missing lies at the door; here the offering associated with it is received as food inside the set-apart court.
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