What Does Leviticus 9:14 Mean?
And he washed the inward parts and the legs, and sent them up in smoke upon the rising offering on 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
And he did wash the inwards and the legs, and burnt them upon the burnt offering on the altar.THE KEY
The word for the inward parts shares a root with drawing near, so what is hidden within enters the language of approach.
THE MEANING
The inward parts and the legs are washed, then burned upon the altar with the burnt offering: both the hidden interior and the limbs are included in what is given over. The verse places this cleansing before the offering’s ascent.
THE ROOT
קֶרֶב
qerev
GROWS FROM
קרב
Draw near, approach; the noun also names what is within or in the midst.
“inward parts” in this verse is qerev. The word for the inner parts belongs to the same root family as drawing near and the approach-offering. The verse’s washing reaches what is within, placing the hidden interior inside the language of approach.
ALSO GROWS
qerev: Inner part, midst
קֶרֶב
This is the word in the verse; it names what is washed before the offering.
qarav: Draw near, approach
קָרַב
It reveals nearness inside the root of the word for the inward parts.
korban: Offering, something brought near
קָרְבָּן
It extends the same root into the language of an offering brought near.
עֹלָה
olah
GROWS FROM
עלה
Go up, rise, ascend.
“rising offering” in this verse is olah. The Hebrew name for the burnt offering carries the sense of ascent. After the inward parts and legs are washed, they are burned upon the altar as part of what rises.
ALSO GROWS
alah: Go up, ascend
עָלָה
This verb gives the root its basic motion, which is carried in the offering’s name.
ma'alah: Ascent, upward step
מַעֲלָה
It shows the root naming upward movement beyond the altar ritual.
aliyah: Ascent, going up
עֲלִיָּה
It keeps the movement of rising audible in another branch of the root.
THE PATTERN
Approach includes cleansing that reaches both the inward parts and the body before presentation.
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.Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.THE THREAD
Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.Hebrews brings drawing near, the heart, and the washed body together in one sentence. It opens Leviticus’s sequence further: the inward parts and the body belong together in the movement toward presentation.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us