What Does Leviticus 6:7 Mean?
And the priest shall cover for him before the LORD, and it shall be released to him for anything of all that he has done in crossing over therein.
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 priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.THE KEY
Atonement and forgiveness are linked movements: the wrong is covered, and the person is released from its claim.
THE MEANING
What you have done is named as trespass and brought before the LORD; it is not waved away. The covering is followed by pardon, so the wrong need not keep its claim over you forever.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being forgiven means the wrong must be hidden or treated as though it never happened. This verse names the trespass plainly, then says forgiveness follows.
THE ROOT
כִּפֶּר
kipper
GROWS FROM
כפר
k-p-r
covering
“cover” in this verse is kipper. The root כפר (kaphar), meaning covering, links the priest’s act to a covering placed over guilt. Here that covering stands beside forgiveness: the wrong is faced, and its claim over the person can be released.
ALSO GROWS
kapporet: The cover of the ark, also called the atonement cover.
כַּפֹּרֶת
It shows the root’s covering image as a physical cover associated with meeting the LORD.
kippurim: Atonements; the word in the name Yom Kippurim, the Day of Atonement.
כִּפֻּרִים
It carries the same covering root into the appointed act of atonement.
וְנִסְלַח
wenislaḥ
GROWS FROM
סלח
s-l-ḥ
to forgive, pardon
“released” in this verse is wenislaḥ. The root סלח (salach), meaning to forgive or pardon, names the release that follows the covering. The verse holds both movements together: the trespass is acknowledged, and the person is no longer held under its claim.
ALSO GROWS
selichah: Forgiveness or pardon.
סְלִיחָה
The noun makes visible the same forgiving movement expressed here as an outcome.
nislaḥ: Be forgiven; the passive form of the verb.
נִסְלַח
It shares the verse’s wording and shows forgiveness as something received.
לְאַשְׁמָה
le'ashmah
GROWS FROM
אשם
ʾ-sh-m
to incur guilt, to be liable
“trespassing” in this verse is le'ashmah. The root אשם (asham), meaning to incur guilt or liability, carries more than the idea of crossing a boundary: it names the culpability the act brings. The verse moves from that real liability to covering and pardon without pretending the act did not happen.
ALSO GROWS
asham: Guilt; also a guilt offering.
אָשָׁם
It links the person’s liability to the offering associated with addressing it.
ashem: To be guilty or incur liability.
אָשֵׁם
It makes clear that the trespass has a real consequence that the verse then addresses.
THE PATTERN
Wrongdoing is faced in the open, then covering gives way to release and cleansing.
And he touched it to my mouth, and said, Look, this has touched your lips, and your crookedness turns aside, and your falling short is covered.A Psalm of David, Maschil. Flourishing is the one whose rebellion is released, whose shortcomings are covered.If we speak our shortcomings into the open, he is steady and aligned, to release our shortcomings, and to cleanse us from all crookedness.THE THREAD
For on that day the priest makes a covering for you, to cleanse you, so that you may be clean from all your shortcomings before the LORD.The Hebrew root כפר (kaphar), meaning covering, appears in both verses. Here it is explicitly joined to cleansing, showing the covering as part of a movement that releases guilt.
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