What Does Numbers 5:9 Mean?
And every lifted offering of all the set-apart things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, is his.
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 every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.THE KEY
The holy portion does not stop at being sacred; it is drawn near until it belongs to someone.
THE MEANING
When a sacred portion comes near the priest, it becomes his. The verse holds consecration and material provision together: what is set apart has a concrete destination.
THE ROOT
יַקְרִיבוּ
yaqrivu
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
q-r-b
Approach, draw near; in this form, bring near.
The Hebrew verb makes “bring” an act of drawing near. The same root names the korban (קָרְבָּן, korban), an offering; the verse joins the sacred gift’s approach to the priest with its becoming his.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: Approach, draw near
קָרַב
The basic verb shows the movement contained in “bring unto the priest.”
korban: Offering; that which is brought near
קָרְבָּן
This related word connects an offering with the act of drawing near.
qarov: Near, close
קָרוֹב
The same root also names nearness, making the gift’s movement relational as well as physical.
תְּרוּמָה
terumah
GROWS FROM
ר־ו־ם
r-w-m
Rise, be high; lift up.
“lifted offering” in this verse is terumah. Terumah names a contribution lifted up or set apart. Here that lifted portion has a clear destination: it becomes the priest’s own provision.
ALSO GROWS
rum: Rise, be high
רוּם
The root gives the offering its sense of being lifted up.
herim: Lifted, raised
הֵרִים
This related verb makes the lifting within terumah visible.
ram: High, exalted
רָם
The same root carries the sense of elevation that underlies the name of the contribution.
קָדְשֵׁי
qodshei
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־שׁ
q-d-sh
Set apart, dedicate.
The Hebrew root gives “holy” the concrete sense of being set apart for a purpose. Here the set-apart things are not abstract: their destination is the priest who receives them.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart, holy
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective names what has been distinguished for a sacred purpose.
qiddesh: Set apart, dedicate
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb shows the act of assigning something to a sacred purpose.
qodesh: Set-apartness; a sacred thing
קֹדֶשׁ
This related noun names the sacred status of the things transferred to the priest.
THE PATTERN
What is set apart for sacred service becomes concrete provision for those who serve.
And from it he shall bring near one cake from every drawing near, as a lifted offering to the LORD, and it shall be the priest's who dashes the blood of the wholeness offerings.And the LORD said unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given you the watch of my lifted offerings, of all the set-apart things of the children of Israel. To you I have given them, by reason of the oil smeared upon you, and to your sons, by an engraved statute for the ages.Do you not know that those who serve the set-apart things eat from the temple, and those who sit beside the altar share with the altar?THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given you the watch of my lifted offerings, of all the set-apart things of the children of Israel. To you I have given them, by reason of the oil smeared upon you, and to your sons, by an engraved statute for the ages.The same word, תְּרוּמָה (terumah), appears here as “heave offerings,” and the verse explicitly gives them to Aaron and his sons. It opens “shall be his” as provision built into the priestly charge.
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