What Does Numbers 6:16 Mean?
And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall bring near his offering for falling short, and his rising offering.
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 the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:THE KEY
What the KJV calls “offer” is rooted in bringing near, so the offering for missing and the ascending offering share one movement of approach.
THE MEANING
This verse shows an approach that brings both the missing and the ascending offering before the LORD. The missing is named within the same movement of nearness as the olah, the offering that rises.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that coming near to God requires hiding what is missing.
THE ROOT
וְהִקְרִיב
vehiq'riv
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Approach; draw near.
The Hebrew verb translated “offer” means to bring near. The act described here is therefore an act of approach: what is missing and what rises are both brought before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: Approach; draw near.
קָרַב
This is the root action beneath the priest’s act of bringing the offerings near.
qorban: Offering; something brought near.
קָרְבָּן
The word for an offering shares the same root, joining the gift with the movement of approach.
qarov: Near; close.
קָרוֹב
This branch makes the root’s language of closeness audible inside the act of offering.
חַטָּאת
chatta't
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
Miss; go wrong.
“offering for falling short” in this verse is chatta't. The offering’s name carries the language of missing within it. The text does not hide what has gone wrong; it brings it into the act of approaching.
ALSO GROWS
chata: Miss; go wrong.
חָטָא
The verb names the missing that the offering addresses.
chet: Missing; a failure or offense.
חֵטְא
This noun keeps the idea of missing connected to the sin offering named in the verse.
עֹלָה
olah
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
Go up; ascend.
“rising offering” in this verse is olah. The Hebrew name olah carries the sense of ascent alongside the offering’s burnt form. Together with the offering for missing, it gives the verse two movements held in one approach: what is brought near and what rises.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: Go up; ascend.
עָלָה
The verb names the upward movement carried by the offering’s name.
ʿaliyah: Ascent; going up.
עֲלִיָּה
This noun preserves the same movement of rising that the verse names in olah.
THE PATTERN
Nearness to God brings the worshiper’s condition into view as part of the approach.
If his drawing near from the herd is a rising offering, he shall bring near a whole male to the opening of the tent of appointed meeting, and he shall bring it near of his own pleasure before the face of the LORD.But for me, drawing near to God is good; I have set my shelter in the Lord LORD, to recount all your works.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
But for me, drawing near to God is good; I have set my shelter in the Lord LORD, to recount all your works.The root קרב (q-r-b, qarab) means “approach” or “bring near”; it lies beneath “offer” in Numbers and “draw near” here. Numbers shows offerings brought near, while the Psalm names nearness to God itself as good.
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