What Does 1 Chronicles 17:9 Mean?
Also I will set a place for my people Israel, and plant them, that they may settle in their place, and no longer tremble; neither shall the children of crookedness wear them out again, as at the first.
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
Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,THE KEY
The verse’s “moved no more” reaches beneath relocation to trembling: being planted means the upheaval no longer gets the last word.
THE MEANING
You are given a place to dwell and pictured as planted there, not left to drift from one upheaval to the next. The promise holds the end of trembling together with the end of being ravaged by wickedness; neither is named as your permanent home.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse dissolves is that repeated upheaval and harm are the only conditions under which you can live.
THE ROOT
יִרְגַּז
yirgaṣ
GROWS FROM
רגז
r-g-z
Tremble, quake, or become agitated.
“no longer tremble” in this verse is yirgaṣ. The Hebrew verb translated “be moved” carries the sense of trembling or agitation. The promise reaches beyond remaining in one place: it names an end to being continually shaken.
ALSO GROWS
ragaz: To quake, tremble, or become disturbed.
רָגַז
This verb shares the root of “be moved” and makes the promise’s sense of upheaval visible.
rogez: Agitation, disturbance, or turmoil.
רֹגֶז
This noun shows that the same root names the disturbance itself, not only the act of trembling.
וּנְטַעְתִּיו
u-netatiw
GROWS FROM
נטע
n-ṭ-ʿ
Plant; place as a growing thing in the ground.
“plant them” in this verse is u-netatiw. The verse does not picture security as mere occupancy: it pictures a people planted, able to take root and dwell. The image links lasting belonging with the rootedness of something living.
ALSO GROWS
nataʿ: To plant or set a growing thing in the ground.
נָטַע
This is the verb behind the verse’s image of a people rooted in a place.
mattaʿ: A planted place or plantation.
מַטָּע
The related noun makes planting a settled condition, illuminating the promise of a place where life can remain.
מָקוֹם
maqom
GROWS FROM
קום
q-w-m
Rise or stand.
The Hebrew word for “place” grows from the root for rising or standing. Beside the image of planting, a place becomes where life can be established to stand.
ALSO GROWS
qum: To rise, stand, or remain standing.
קוּם
This verbal branch reveals the standing sense beneath the word for place.
heqim: To raise up or establish.
הֵקִים
This related form shows how the same root can express establishing something so it stands.
THE PATTERN
A life made stable is pictured as planting: rooted placement gives room to remain and grow.
And he becomes like a tree planted by the channels of the waters, that gives its fruit in its season; its leaf does not wither; whatever he does, he breaks through.Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in truth, with my whole heart and my whole living soul.I planted, Apollos gave to drink, but God made it grow.THE THREAD
And I will plant them upon their ground, and they shall no more be uprooted from their ground, which I have given them, says the LORD your God.Amos repeats נטע (nataʿ, to plant) and makes the image explicit: planted life is no longer pulled up. The shared root opens this verse’s promise of dwelling into a promise of lasting rootedness.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us