What Does Leviticus 7:2 Mean?
In the place where they kill the rising offering, they shall kill the trespass offering. Its blood he shall dash round about upon the altar.
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
In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass offering: and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar.THE KEY
The guilt offering is slaughtered where the offering named for “going up” is slaughtered, bringing liability into the same altar-space as ascent.
THE MEANING
The offering for guilt is slaughtered in the same place as the burnt offering, and its blood is cast around the altar. The verse gives guilt a visible form at the altar, where it meets an offering named for going up. Both offerings occupy the same sacred space.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that guilt must be carried somewhere separate from complete offering is undone: the two offerings are slaughtered in the same place.
THE ROOT
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
Go up, ascend.
“rising offering” in this verse is ʿōlāh. The offering translated “burnt offering” also carries the sense of something that goes up. The verse places the guilt offering in the same place of slaughter, bringing liability into the same offering-space as ascent.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: To go up, ascend.
עָלָה
This verb is the root beneath the offering’s name and makes its upward movement audible.
maʿălāh: Ascent, rising.
מַעֲלָה
This related form keeps the sense of upward movement close to the name of the offering.
אָשָׁם
ʾāšām
GROWS FROM
אשם
ʾ-š-m
Be guilty or incur liability.
“trespass offering” in this verse is ʾāšām. The root names the condition of being liable as well as the offering associated with that liability. English gives these different expressions, while Hebrew keeps them in one word-family.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāšēm: Guilty, liable.
אָשֵׁם
This verbal form names the condition carried by the offering’s name.
ʾăšāmâ: Guilt, liability.
אֲשָׁמָה
This related noun preserves guilt as a named state within the same root-family.
יִזְרֹק
yizrōq
GROWS FROM
זרק
z-r-q
Throw, cast.
“dash round about” in this verse is yizrōq. The Hebrew verb also means to throw or cast, giving the blood’s movement a physical force that English “sprinkle” may not convey on its own. The related word for a basin belongs to the same family of casting and sprinkling.
ALSO GROWS
zāraq: To throw, cast.
זָרַק
This verb makes the blood’s movement around the altar more concrete.
mizrāq: Basin or bowl used for sprinkling.
מִזְרָק
This related noun connects the act of casting with a vessel used in the same sacrificial setting.
THE PATTERN
Offerings that address guilt are given a visible place in the sacrificial order, with blood brought to the altar.
And he shall slaughter the lamb in the place where he shall slaughter the offering for falling short and the rising offering, in the set-apart place. For as the offering for it is the priest's, so is the guilt offering. It is most set apart.You take some of the blood of the young bull, and set it upon the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out all the blood at the foundation of the altar.And nearly all things are cleansed in blood according to the instruction, and without the pouring out of blood, no release comes.THE THREAD
And if a living soul misses the mark, and does any one of the things that are not to be done by the commands of the LORD; though he does not perceive it, yet he is guilty, and carries his crookedness.The Hebrew word translated “guilty” comes from the same root as “trespass offering” in Leviticus 7:2. The root holds liability and the offering associated with it in one word-family.
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