What Does Leviticus 7:21 Mean?
Moreover the living soul who touches any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any unclean crawling thing, and eats of the flesh of the slaughter of wholeness offerings, which belong to the LORD, even that living soul shall be cut off from his people.
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
Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain unto the LORD, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.THE KEY
The offering named for wholeness becomes the setting where unclean contact cuts a person off from the people.
THE MEANING
The verse marks a severe boundary: when a living person touches what is unclean and eats the LORD’s peace offering, that person is cut off from the people. The meal’s name points toward wholeness, while the consequence is separation from the community.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that taking part in what is set apart is detached from the condition of the person who takes part.
THE ROOT
שְׁלָמִים
shelamim
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ל־ם
sh-l-m
To be whole, complete, or sound.
“wholeness offerings” in this verse is shelamim. The offering called shelamim carries the root of shalom, wholeness. The verse places that language of wholeness beside a consequence of severance, showing how closely the shared offering and belonging are joined here.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, completeness, well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
It reveals the depth within “peace offerings”: the meal is named with the language of wholeness.
shalem: Whole, complete, sound.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the contrast sharper: the offering bears the name of completeness, while the verse ends with a person cut off from the people.
יִכָּרֵת
yikkaret
GROWS FROM
כרת
k-r-t
To cut or sever.
The phrase “cut off from his people” uses a verb of severing. Set beside shelamim, it gives the verse a sharp movement from the offering’s language of wholeness to the loss of communal belonging.
ALSO GROWS
karat: To cut or sever.
כָּרַת
This is the verb’s basic sense, making “cut off” an image of separation rather than a vague consequence.
karat berit: To cut a covenant; the Hebrew expression for making a covenant.
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same cutting verb can mark a binding relationship; here, its form names severance from the people.
THE PATTERN
Participation in what is set apart carries a boundary that connects the participant’s condition with communal belonging.
But the living soul who eats of the flesh of the slaughter of wholeness offerings, which belong to the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, even that living soul shall be cut off from his people.Who climbs the mountain of the LORD? Who stands in his set-apart place? Clean of hands and clear of heart, he who does not lift up his living soul to emptiness, nor swears in deceit.So whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord without its due weight shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.THE THREAD
And the uncut male, whose flesh of the foreskin is not cut, that living soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.Genesis uses the same verb כָּרַת (karat, to cut or sever) in the phrase “cut off from his people,” and it also names the person as נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, a living soul or person). That connection makes the consequence here concrete: a living person is severed from the people.
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