What Does Leviticus 8:21 Mean?
And he washed the inward parts and the legs in the waters, and Moses burned the whole ram upon the altar. It was a rising offering, a scent that settles, an offering of fire to the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.
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 he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.THE KEY
The animal’s “inwards” are qerev, from the same root as “draw near” and korban, so the rite places nearness inside the body before the whole olah rises.
THE MEANING
The inward parts and legs are washed, and the whole ram is consumed in fire as an olah, an ascent to the LORD. Cleansing reaches the hidden interior and the limbs before the offering rises in its entirety.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that ritual purity concerns only the visible surface gives way: this washing includes the animal’s inward parts.
THE ROOT
קֶרֶב
qerev
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
q-r-b
to draw near; to approach
“inwards” in this verse is qerev. The word for the animal’s inward parts is qerev, from the same root as qarav, “draw near,” and korban, “offering; something brought near.” English makes this sound like a list of organs, while Hebrew leaves an echo in which the inside is linguistically bound to nearness.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: draw near; approach
קָרַב
The shared root lets “inwards” resonate with the language of nearness within the rite.
korban: offering; something brought near
קָרְבָּן
This related word connects the inner parts’ root with the idea of what is brought near to the LORD.
עֹלָה
ʿolah
GROWS FROM
ע־ל־ה
ʿ-l-h
to go up; rise; ascend
“rising offering” in this verse is ʿolah. The noun rendered “burnt sacrifice” is olah, related to alah, “to rise.” The verse names both an act in fire and an upward movement: the whole ram is an ascent, not merely an object burned.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: go up; rise
עָלָה
This verb makes the upward movement within olah audible.
maʿaleh: ascent; rising
מַעֲלֶה
This related noun preserves the root’s sense of upward movement beyond the offering itself.
THE PATTERN
The burnt offering is an ascent made whole: its parts are prepared, then the entire offering is given to the LORD.
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.And its inward parts and its legs he shall wash in water, and the priest shall send all of it up in smoke upon the altar, a rising offering, an offering of fire, a fragrance that settles to the LORD.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.Genesis names these offerings with the plural of olah, the same word used for the ram here. Its root, ע־ל־ה (ʿ-l-h), means “rise” or “go up,” so both verses carry the image of offering as ascent.
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