What Does 1 Chronicles 13:1 Mean?
And David consulted with the heads of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.
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 David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.THE KEY
David’s first move is consultation: leadership widens its field of sight before it acts.
THE MEANING
When a decision touches many lives, its clarity can emerge through many eyes. David brings the captains and every leader into the act of counsel, making shared perception part of leadership itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that authority must decide alone dissolves here: counsel belongs inside leadership.
THE ROOT
וַיִּוָּעַץ
wayyiwwāʿēṣ
GROWS FROM
י־ע־ץ
y-ʿ-ṣ
To advise, seek counsel, or deliberate.
“consulted” in this verse is wayyiwwāʿēṣ. The same root names the act of seeking counsel, the counsel itself, and the counselor. English gives us one verb, while Hebrew links the act of consulting to the advice and advisers gathered around it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēṣāh: Counsel or advice
עֵצָה
This related noun shows counsel as what the act of consulting seeks.
yōʿēṣ: Counselor or adviser
יוֹעֵץ
The adviser belongs to the same word family as the act of taking counsel.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
ד־ו־ד
d-w-d
Beloved; one held dear.
David’s name is associated with belovedness. Beside the verb for consultation, the name places the beloved leader within a circle of counsel, rather than apart from it.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved one or lover
דּוֹד
This word carries the belovedness associated with David’s name.
dōdīm: Loves or expressions of love
דּוֹדִים
This related form extends the root’s language of belovedness and affection.
THE PATTERN
Shared counsel widens judgment before collective action begins.
Without counsel, plans are broken, but in a multitude of counselors they stand.And the sent ones and elders came together to perceive about this word.THE THREAD
Without counsel, plans are broken, but in a multitude of counselors they stand.The Hebrew word rendered “counsellors” is יוֹעֵץ (yōʿēṣ), from the same י־ע־ץ root as “consulted” in 1 Chronicles. The verb and the advisers belong to one word family, showing that the circle of counsel is part of the act itself.
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