What Does 1 Chronicles 15:27 Mean?
And David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites who lifted the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the chief of the lifting with the singers; David also had upon him an ephod of linen.
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 was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen.THE KEY
The Hebrew word translated “bare” holds lifting and carrying together: the ark’s sacredness is something bodies actually bear.
THE MEANING
The holy is visible in bodies: Levites carry the ark, singers give voice to the procession, and David wears linen and an ephod within it. Sacred life moves through carrying, clothing, and sound. David’s name carries the nature of the beloved, placed here within that visible participation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that devotion is only inward: here carrying, clothing, and song give it a visible form.
THE ROOT
הַנֹּשְׂאִים
hannōśəʾîm
GROWS FROM
נשא
nāśāʾ
To lift, carry, or bear
“lifted” in this verse is hannōśəʾîm. The Levites’ verb is nasa, which holds lifting and carrying in one word; a related noun, massa, names a burden. The verse places the bearers’ bodies at the center of the ark’s movement.
ALSO GROWS
massa: Burden, load
מַשָּׂא
The related word for a burden makes the act of bearing tangible: what is carried has weight.
nasi: Prince, leader; one raised up
נָשִׂיא
This branch links being lifted up with leadership, a striking echo in a verse that places David among the carriers and singers.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; the related kinship word can also mean uncle
David’s name carries the nature of the beloved into this scene. He appears not apart from the procession, but within its visible movement of carrying and song.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved; uncle
דּוֹד
This is the word-seed carried in David’s name, placing belovedness at the center of the scene.
dōdîm: Loves, caresses
דּוֹדִים
This plural branch carries the root into expressed affection, adding tenderness to the name’s nature.
THE PATTERN
The holy becomes visible through bodies that carry, move, and voice it.
And you set the poles into the rings at the sides of the ark, that the ark may be lifted with them.And David whirled before the LORD with all his strength, and David was girded with a linen ephod.And leaping up, he stood and walked, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.THE THREAD
And you will set the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the children of Israel, and Aaron will carry their names before the LORD on his two shoulders, for a remembrance.There, the same root nasa describes Aaron bearing Israel’s names on the ephod’s shoulders; here, it names the Levites bearing the ark while David wears a linen ephod. The shared root makes carrying a bodily act of holding what is sacred before God.
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