What Does 1 Chronicles 21:23 Mean?
And Ornan said to David, Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Behold, I give you the oxen also for the rising offerings, and the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for the gift. I give it all.
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 Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.THE KEY
The repeated “I give” reveals that the offering is not only the oxen but the whole means by which it can rise.
THE MEANING
Oxen, threshing tools for fuel, and wheat for the grain offering all enter David’s hands as one complete gift. The repeated “I give” gathers the animal, its preparation, and its provision into a single act of generosity. The verse speaks now wherever an offering begins with what is already placed within reach.
THE ROOT
נָתַתִּי
natatti from natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
“I give” in this verse is natatti from natan. The Hebrew verb holds giving and placing together. Ornan places the whole means of the offering, the animal, fuel, and grain, at David’s disposal.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
The gift-word grows from the same root as Ornan’s repeated “I give,” linking the act of giving to what is given.
nathun: Given or placed.
נָתוּן
This form makes visible the placing within giving: the offering’s materials are put into David’s hands.
עֹלוֹת
olot from olah
GROWS FROM
עלה
To go up or ascend.
“rising offerings” in this verse is olot from olah. The Hebrew name for these offerings also carries the sense of ascent. Alongside “burnt offering,” it pictures the gift as something that rises; the oxen are both provision placed in David’s hands and the substance of what ascends.
ALSO GROWS
alah: To go up or ascend.
עָלָה
This verb gives the offering’s name its upward movement.
aliyah: Ascent or going up.
עֲלִיָּה
This noun from the same root echoes the movement carried in the offering’s name.
THE PATTERN
An offering gathers ordinary provision into something wholly presented to God.
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.And the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. For I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God of what costs me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
And the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. For I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God of what costs me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.The same altar scene names the sacrifice with the root עלה (alah), “to go up,” carried in “burnt offerings” (olot). David’s refusal to offer what costs him nothing reveals a further layer: Ornan freely gives the materials, and David chooses to bear the cost of the offering.
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