Serving as priest is an assigned activity whose setting identifies the person, preparation and responsibility. Exodus names Aaron and his sons for priestly service and connects the garments and consecration with that assignment.
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Full entry for כָּהַן (H3547) · Open the biblical lexicon
Serving as priest is an assigned activity whose setting identifies the person, preparation and responsibility. Exodus names Aaron and his sons for priestly service and connects the garments and consecration with that assignment.
The BSB source-word alignment has 23 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to serve Me as priests (5), to serve as priests (4), as priests (2), served as priests (2), so that they may serve Me as priests (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 28:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (12), 1 Chronicles (2), Leviticus (2), Numbers (2).
Serving as priest is an assigned activity whose setting identifies the person, preparation and responsibility. Exodus names Aaron and his sons for priestly service and connects the garments and consecration with that assignment. Numbers records Eleazar and Ithamar serving during Aaron's lifetime after the narrated deaths of Nadab and Abihu. Hosea rebukes rejected knowledge and forgotten instruction while announcing rejection from priestly service.
Isaiah uses priestly adornment in the bridegroom comparison within rejoicing over salvation and righteousness. The verb does not give every wearer of religious clothing an office or make a serving leader immune from correction. Read the actual assignment or comparison before applying the vocabulary. A congregation should keep responsibility, instruction and the texts' stated assessments visible, without treating severe ancient deaths as permission to punish present critics or claiming that a grammatical stem intensifies holiness.
Assigned priestly service and its preparation differ from Hosea's rebuke and Isaiah's adornment comparison. The verb requires its stated actor and purpose rather than conferring automatic status or immunity.
“Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests.
Aaron and his named sons are selected from among the Israelites to serve the Lord as priests.
You are to instruct all the skilled craftsmen, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, to make garments for Aaron’s consecration, so that he may serve Me as priest.
Skilled workers are instructed to make garments for Aaron so he may be consecrated for priestly service.
So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests.
The Lord promises to consecrate the tent, altar, Aaron and his sons for the stated priestly service.
Nadab and Abihu, however, died in the presence of the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai. And since they had no sons, only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.
Eleazar and Ithamar serve during Aaron's lifetime after the account reports Nadab and Abihu's deaths.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
Rejected knowledge and forgotten instruction are named within the rebuke announcing rejection from priestly service.
I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
The rejoicing speaker compares salvation clothing to bridegroom adornment and a bride's jewelry within the unit.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Mediating sacred space between God and people; literal priestly function deepens into metaphor of assuming consecrated role.
Mediating sacred space between God and people; literal priestly function deepens into metaphor of assuming consecrated role.
to officiate as a priest; figuratively, to put on regalia BDB: act as priest Usage: deck, be (do the office of a, execute the, minister in the) priest('s office).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
כָּהַן is built from this root:
The verb asks the reader to identify who is serving and under which stated assignment. Exodus names Aaron and his sons and places garments and consecration within their particular service. Numbers distinguishes the serving sons from the severe deaths already reported, which cannot become a model for a present leader punishing criticism. Hosea does not treat priestly status as protection from rebuke: rejected knowledge and forgotten instruction remain reasons named in the accusation.
Isaiah's use belongs to rejoicing over salvation and righteousness through an adornment comparison, rather than commissioning every bridegroom to an office. Teaching should preserve those differences. A congregation can value service and preparation while examining how a leader handles instruction and people. It must not let clothing, a title or a stem label decide someone's holiness or dignity.
The New Testament comparison with Jesus' priesthood deserves its own stated argument instead of an automatic transfer of every ancient office rule.
Hos.4.6
The selected verb's Piel forms must be read through the actual service or adornment construction, without an intensity-of-holiness inference. Twenty-three BSB tokens in twenty-three verses remain separate from canonical twenty-three; existing artifact identity and transliteration are preserved without assigning a new office authority.
Hebrews 4:14-5:10 addresses Jesus as the great high priest, invites approach for mercy and describes His appointment, obedience and relation to Melchizedek. This is a canonical priestly-service comparison, not an occurrence of the Hebrew verb or a transfer of Jesus' status and authority to every present religious leader.