The Meaning of Leviticus 17:11 Explained

Leviticus 17:11

KJV: For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

YLT: for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar, to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood which maketh atonement for the soul.

Darby: for the soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.

ASV: For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For the life  of the flesh  [is] in the blood:  and I have given  it to you upon the altar  to make an atonement  for your souls:  for it [is] the blood  [that] maketh an atonement  for the soul. 

What does Leviticus 17:11 Mean?

Study Notes

atonement
.
Heb. kaphar, "to cover." The English word "atonement" (at-one-ment) is not a translation of the Heb. kaphar, but a translator's interpretation. According to Scripture the legal sacrifice "covered" the offerer's sin and secured the divine forgiveness; according to the translators it made God and the sinner at- one. But the O.T. sacrifices did not at-one the sinner and God. "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." Hebrews 10:4 . The Israelite's offering implied confession of sin and of its due desert, death; and God "covered" (passed over," Romans 3:25 his sin, in anticipation of Christ's sacrifice, which did, finally, "put away" the sins "done aforetime in the forbearance of God."; Romans 3:25 ; Hebrews 9:15 . (See Scofield " Romans 3:25 ") . The word "atonement" does not occur in the N.T.; Romans 5:11 meaning reconciliation, and so rendered in the R.V.
See "Sacrifice," Genesis 4:4 , and refs. (See Scofield " Genesis 4:4 ")
(See Scofield " Leviticus 16:5 ")
blood
The meaning of all sacrifice is here explained. Every offering was an execution of the sentence of the law upon a substitute for the offender, and every such offering pointed forward to that substitutional death of Christ which alone vindicated the righteousness of God in passing over the sins of those who offered the typical sacrifices Romans 3:24 ; Romans 3:25 ; Exodus 29:36 .
atonement
.
atonement
Heb. kaphar, "to cover." The English word "atonement" (at-one-ment) is not a translation of the Heb. kaphar, but a translator's interpretation. According to Scripture the legal sacrifice "covered" the offerer's sin and secured the divine forgiveness; according to the translators it made God and the sinner at- one. But the O.T. sacrifices did not at-one the sinner and God. "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." Hebrews 10:4 . The Israelite's offering implied confession of sin and of its due desert, death; and God "covered" (passed over," Romans 3:25 his sin, in anticipation of Christ's sacrifice, which did, finally, "put away" the sins "done aforetime in the forbearance of God."; Romans 3:25 ; Hebrews 9:15 . (See Scofield " Romans 3:25 ") . The word "atonement" does not occur in the N.T.; Romans 5:11 meaning reconciliation, and so rendered in the R.V.
See "Sacrifice," Genesis 4:4 , and refs. (See Scofield " Genesis 4:4 ")
(See Scofield " Leviticus 16:5 ")
altar
(1) The value of the "life" is the measure of the value of the "blood." This gives the blood of Christ its inconceivable value. When it was shed the sinless God-man gave His life. "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins" Hebrews 10:4 .
(2) it is not the blood in the veins of the sacrifice, but the blood upon the altar which is efficacious. The Scripture knows nothing of salvation by the imitation or influence of Christ's life, but only by that life yielded up on the cross.
blood
The meaning of all sacrifice is here explained. Every offering was an execution of the sentence of the law upon a substitute for the offender, and every such offering pointed forward to that substitutional death of Christ which alone vindicated the righteousness of God in passing over the sins of those who offered the typical sacrifices Romans 3:24 ; Romans 3:25 ; Exodus 29:36 .
atonement
.
atonement
Heb. kaphar, "to cover." The English word "atonement" (at-one-ment) is not a translation of the Heb. kaphar, but a translator's interpretation. According to Scripture the legal sacrifice "covered" the offerer's sin and secured the divine forgiveness; according to the translators it made God and the sinner at- one. But the O.T. sacrifices did not at-one the sinner and God. "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." Hebrews 10:4 . The Israelite's offering implied confession of sin and of its due desert, death; and God "covered" (passed over," Romans 3:25 his sin, in anticipation of Christ's sacrifice, which did, finally, "put away" the sins "done aforetime in the forbearance of God."; Romans 3:25 ; Hebrews 9:15 . (See Scofield " Romans 3:25 ") . The word "atonement" does not occur in the N.T.; Romans 5:11 meaning reconciliation, and so rendered in the R.V.
See "Sacrifice," Genesis 4:4 , and refs. (See Scofield " Genesis 4:4 ")
(See Scofield " Leviticus 16:5 ")

Context Summary

Leviticus 17:1-16 - "the Life Of The Flesh Is In The Blood"
Every animal that was slain for food was regarded as a kind of peace-offering, and was therefore slain at the door of the Tabernacle. This law, though it expressed a great principle, was only provisional. It was kept as long as Israel dwelled in the Wilderness, but repealed when they entered the Land of Promise, where their numbers and diffusion would have rendered its strict observance impossible. See Deuteronomy 12:15-24.
Very earnest insistence is laid on the prohibition of blood as an article of diet. See Leviticus 17:10, etc. The reason of this is in the repeated announcement that the life (or soul) is in the blood, Leviticus 17:11 and Leviticus 17:14. When we are told that the blood maketh atonement, we learn that it does so because it represents the soul of the victim. Life is given for life, soul for soul.
Thus our Lord gave His blood, i.e., His life or soul, a ransom for many. "He poured out His soul unto death." See Isaiah 53:12. It was His blood, not as it was in His veins, but as poured out, that effected the reconciliation. See Ephesians 1:7. It is the death of Christ in which the sinner finds peace. Compare Leviticus 16:30 and 1 John 1:7. [source]

Chapter Summary: Leviticus 17

1  The blood of slain beasts must be offered to the Lord at the tabernacle door
7  They must not offer to idols
10  All eating of blood is forbidden
15  and of all that dies by itself, or is torn

What do the individual words in Leviticus 17:11 mean?

For the life of the flesh in the blood is and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls for the blood it [is] the for soul [that] makes atonement
כִּ֣י נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר֮ בַּדָּ֣ם הִוא֒ וַאֲנִ֞י נְתַתִּ֤יו לָכֶם֙ עַל־ הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ לְכַפֵּ֖ר עַל־ נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑ם כִּֽי־ הַדָּ֥ם ה֖וּא בַּנֶּ֥פֶשׁ יְכַפֵּֽר

נֶ֣פֶשׁ  the  life 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
הַבָּשָׂר֮  of  the  flesh 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: בָּשָׂר  
Sense: flesh.
בַּדָּ֣ם  in  the  blood 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: דָּם  
Sense: blood.
וַאֲנִ֞י  and  I 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Pronoun, first person common singular
Root: אֲנִי  
Sense: I (first pers.
נְתַתִּ֤יו  have  given  it 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular, third person masculine singular
Root: יָתַן 
Sense: to give, put, set.
לָכֶם֙  to  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
עַל־  upon 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ  the  altar 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִזְבֵּחַ  
Sense: altar.
לְכַפֵּ֖ר  to  make  atonement 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Piel, Infinitive construct
Root: כָּפַר 
Sense: to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch.
נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑ם  your  souls 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
הַדָּ֥ם  the  blood 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: דָּם  
Sense: blood.
ה֖וּא  it  [is] 
Parse: Pronoun, third person masculine singular
Root: הוּא 
Sense: he, she, it.
בַּנֶּ֥פֶשׁ  the  for  soul 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
יְכַפֵּֽר  [that]  makes  atonement 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: כָּפַר 
Sense: to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch.