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Leviticus 22:11

in Leviticus 22

But if a priest buys a slave with his own money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But if a priest buy any soul, the purchase of his money, he shall eat of it; and such as are born in his house, they shall eat of his bread.

KJV

But if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they shall eat of his meat.

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This verse in Leviticus 22

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
But if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it,.... Whether any of his own nation, who sometimes, when become poor, were obliged to sell themselves; or a stranger, as the Targum of Jonathan; one of another nation, a Canaanitish servant, as Jarchi.

This site's exposition

No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering

on Leviticus 22:10-16

Membership in the priest's household draws the line: a slave bought or born in his house eats, and a guest or hired hand does not. A daughter married outside the priestly families eats again only if she returns "widowed or divorced" with no children.

This site's exposition

buys a slave with his own money

Albert Barnes saw in the rule how completely a purchased slave was taken into the household. John Gill allows either an Israelite who sold himself in poverty or a foreigner, and the Jewish commentator Jarchi took it of a Canaanite servant. The hired hand of verse 10 stays outside.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Note, Those only are entitled to the comforts of God's house who make it their rest for ever, and resolve to dwell in it all the days of their life. As for those who for a time only believe, to serve a present turn. They are looked upon but as sojourners and mercenaries, and have no part nor lot in the matter.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

This shows how completely a purchased bondsman was incorporated into the household. See Exo 21:2, note; Exo 21:20-21, note.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

There shall no stranger eat the holy thing--The portion of the sacrifices assigned for the support of the officiating priests was restricted to the exclusive use of his own family. A temporary guest or a hired servant was not at liberty to eat of them; but an exception was made in favor of a bought or homeborn slave, because such was a stated member of his household.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

No stranger (non- kohein ) may eat holy things. One indentured to a kohein and one hired [by a kohein ] may not eat sacred-offerings.
Targum · Onkelos Leviticus 22:10, via Sefaria, Metsudah Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009 [with Onkelos translation]

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְכֹהֵ֗ןand a priest

    vekhohenH3548 →750 times

  • כִּֽי־if

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • יִקְנֶ֥הhe will acquire

    yiknehH7069 →84 times

  • נֶ֙פֶשׁ֙a person

    nefeshH5315 →754 times

  • קִנְיַ֣ן[the] acquisition of

    kinyanH7075 →

  • כַּסְפּ֔וֹmoney his

    kaspoH3701 →403 times

  • ה֖וּאhe

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • יֹ֣אכַלhe will eat

    yokhalH398 →810 times

  • בּ֑וֹin <the> it

    bo

  • וִילִ֣ידand [the] one born of

    vilidH3211 →

  • בֵּית֔וֹhousehold his

    beitoH1004 →2046 times

  • הֵ֖םthey

    hemH1992 →553 times

  • יֹאכְל֥וּthey will eat

    yokheluH398 →810 times

  • בְלַחְמֽוֹ׃in food his

    velachmoH3899 →298 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

7 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 12:44

    But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 17:12–13

      Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring.

    • Genesis 17:23

      On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God…

  • Through

    Genesis 17:13

    Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 12:44

      But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.

    • Nehemiah 5:8

      and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!”…

    • Genesis 37:36

      Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

    • Matthew 18:25

      Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.

    • Nehemiah 5:5

      We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to…

Where this verse is studied

About Leviticus

The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
Leviticus: the study guide →Read Leviticus 22 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Leviticus 22 →