What Does Leviticus 9:18 Mean?
And he slaughtered also the bullock and the ram for a sacrifice of the offerings of wholeness, which was for the people; and Aaron's sons handed him the blood, which he dashed upon the altar round about.
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
He slew also the bullock and the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people: and Aaron’s sons presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled upon the altar round about,THE KEY
The “peace offering” carries wholeness in its name, while the verse places that wholeness amid slaughter and blood.
THE MEANING
The people’s wholeness is embodied here: the bull and ram are slain, and their blood is brought to Aaron and cast around the altar. Peace in this scene is communal and gathered through an offering, not treated as an inward mood.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that peace is merely a bloodless calm: this offering involves slaughter and blood brought to the altar.
THE ROOT
שְׁלָמִים
shelamim
GROWS FROM
שלם
shalem
To be whole, complete, or intact.
“offerings of wholeness” in this verse is shelamim. English “peace” can sound like calm or an end to conflict, while שְׁלָמִים (shelamim, peace offerings) belongs to שלם (shalem, the root of wholeness and completeness). The offering’s name places the people’s peace in the language of wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being, peace.
שָׁלוֹם
It shares the root of “peace offerings,” linking the offering’s name with the wider idea of wholeness.
shalem: Whole, complete, intact.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the root’s sense of completeness explicit beneath the English word “peace.”
זֶבַח
zevach
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
To slaughter or offer in sacrifice.
“a sacrifice” in this verse is zevach. English gives “sacrifice” and “altar” separate names, while זֶבַח (zevach, sacrifice) and מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach, altar) share the root זבח (z-b-ḥ, slaughter or sacrifice). The blood cast around the altar makes that word-family connection visible in the scene.
ALSO GROWS
mizbeach: Altar.
מִזְבֵּחַ
Its name belongs to the same root as the sacrifice, joining the offering with the place where it is brought.
zavach: To slaughter; to sacrifice.
זָבַח
The verb names the action that produces the offering in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Biblical peace becomes tangible through an offering, active pursuit, and reconciliation.
If his drawing near is a wholeness offering from the herd, male or female, he brings it near whole before the LORD.Turn aside from evil and do good; seek wholeness and pursue it.And, having made wholeness through the blood of his cross, through him to bring all things back to himself, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.THE THREAD
Turn aside from evil and do good; seek wholeness and pursue it.Psalm 34:14 uses שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness or peace), from the same root שלם (shalem, to be whole) as שְׁלָמִים (shelamim, peace offerings) here. Its words “seek” and “pursue” open that shared wholeness beyond stillness, as something actively pursued.
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