What Does 1 Chronicles 13:2 Mean?
And David said to all the assembly of Israel, If it is good to you, and if it is from the LORD our God, let us send to our brothers, those left in all the lands of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and pastures, that they may gather themselves to us.
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 said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us:THE KEY
The gathering begins before anyone arrives: the call is sent outward to reach those still scattered across the land.
THE MEANING
You can belong to a whole even while you are among those left across the land; distance has not made you unaddressable. The passage holds together a call sent outward, a shared judgment about what is good, and a gathering toward one another.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being far away or left behind means I no longer belong to the people.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁלְחָה
nishleḥah
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send, send forth, or release.
“send” in this verse is nishleḥah. The call itself is sent beyond the gathered people to those who remain scattered. The same root can mean release: the movement toward reunion begins by letting the summons go outward.
ALSO GROWS
shaliaḥ: A sent one; an emissary or messenger.
שָׁלִיחַ
The call travels through a messenger, carrying the assembly’s invitation outward.
shulḥan: A table.
שֻׁלְחָן
The same root’s branch names a place where provision is extended, giving the sending a direction toward welcome.
Shiloach: Sent forth; the name of the waters of Shiloah.
שִׁלֹחַ
Here, what is sent forth reaches people where they are, just as sent waters carry provision.
קָהָל
qahal
GROWS FROM
קהל
To assemble or convene.
The people are already named as an assembly even while some of their kin remain elsewhere. The root holds the gathered whole and the act of assembling together in one word-family.
ALSO GROWS
qehillah: A community or congregation.
קְהִלָּה
The people David addresses are a community that can extend its sense of belonging across distance.
haqhel: Assemble; convene the people.
הַקְהֵל
This form makes explicit the movement from a people who belong together to a people called together.
יִקָּבְצוּ
yiqqavetsu
GROWS FROM
קבץ
To gather or collect into one place.
“gather” in this verse is yiqqavetsu. English can make gathering sound like a single event, but this root pictures scattered people being collected toward one another. The verse’s call and its gathering are distinct movements: first the invitation goes out, then people come together.
ALSO GROWS
qibbuts: A gathering or collection.
קִבּוּץ
The word makes visible the collecting motion contained in the people’s coming together.
qevutsah: A group or collection.
קְבוּצָה
Those who are gathered become a group, while the verse keeps their dispersed starting places in view.
THE PATTERN
A call reaches people where they are and turns dispersion into shared assembly.
And Samuel called out the people to the LORD at Mizpah.And all the people gathered as one man into the broad place before the waters gate, and they said to Ezra the writer to bring the scroll of the instruction of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel.And not for that nation only, but that he would also gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad.THE THREAD
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.The Hebrew root שָׁלַח (shalach), meaning send or release, appears in both “send abroad” here and “Let my people go” in Exodus. In each verse, what is held in one place is released into movement; here, that movement carries the call to those who remain scattered.
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