What Does 1 Chronicles 16:10 Mean?
Glory in his set-apart nature; let the heart of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
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
Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.THE KEY
His name holds his nature: the seeker’s heart finds joy as praise turns toward what is set apart in him.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s name carries his nature, and that nature is set apart. As you seek him now, your heart rejoices in the one it seeks; praise gives that joy its voice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that seeking means you have nothing to rejoice in yet: the verse places joy within the ongoing search itself.
THE ROOT
הִתְהַלְלוּ
hithallelu
GROWS FROM
הלל
Praise, celebrate, or boast.
“Glory in” in this verse is hithallelu. The verb translated “Glory ye” belongs to the same word family as praise and boasting. The verse brings praise and rejoicing together as expressions of delight in the LORD’s nature.
ALSO GROWS
tehillah: Praise; a song of praise.
תְּהִלָּה
This familiar word for praise grows from the same root as “Glory ye.”
hallelu-Yah: Praise Yah.
הַלְלוּיָהּ
The word for praise in this verse belongs to the word that calls praise directly toward Yah.
קָדְשׁוֹ
qodsho
GROWS FROM
קדש
Set apart; dedicate as distinct.
“set-apart” in this verse is qodsho. Joined to שֵׁם (shem, name), קָדְשׁוֹ (qodsho, his set-apartness) makes the name a compact expression of the nature being praised. The heart rejoices as it turns toward that nature.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Set-apartness; holiness.
קֹדֶשׁ
It names the quality carried in the LORD’s holy name.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The same root links set-apartness in the name with a place marked by that quality.
מְבַקְשֵׁי
mevaqshei
GROWS FROM
בקש
Seek or request.
“seek” in this verse is mevaqshei. The verse names the people by the seeking they are doing and places joy within that movement. Their gladness is present in the search itself, before any arrival or completion is mentioned.
ALSO GROWS
biqqesh: He sought; he requested.
בִּקֵּשׁ
This verb form shares the root of “those that seek” in the verse.
baqashah: Request; petition.
בַּקָּשָׁה
The request branch shows seeking as desire expressed toward what is sought.
THE PATTERN
Seeking the LORD, rejoicing in him, and praising him are one movement of the heart.
Boast in his set-apart nature, and let the heart of those who seek the LORD rejoice.Let all who seek you leap and be glad in you. Let those who love your deliverance always say, Let the LORD grow great.So that, just as it is written, "The one who boasts, let him boast in the LORD."THE THREAD
My living soul makes its boast in the LORD; the bowed ones hear it and are glad.“Make her boast” translates a form from הִתְהַלֵּל (hithallel, praise or boast), the same root as “Glory ye” here. Psalm 34:2 shows that praise in the LORD can be heard by others and become shared gladness.
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