What Does 1 Chronicles 26:29 Mean?
Of the Izeharites, Chenaniah and his sons were for the outside work over Israel, for officers and judges.
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
Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were for the outward business over Israel, for officers and judges.THE KEY
This verse places public oversight and judgment inside the community’s work of service, extending responsibility beyond the sanctuary.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to a community whose shared life needs both practical oversight and fair judgment. Work that reaches outward into public affairs belongs within the ordering of that life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that meaningful service belongs only to inward or sanctuary work: this verse explicitly assigns people to outward public responsibilities.
THE ROOT
הַחִיצֹנָה
ha-chitsonah
GROWS FROM
חוּץ
ḥ-w-ṣ
Outside; the space beyond an inner area.
“outside work” in this verse is ha-chitsonah. “Outward” marks work that reaches beyond an inner precinct into the shared life of Israel. The verse places public responsibility within the community’s ordered service.
ALSO GROWS
ḥuts: Outside; an open space or street.
חוּץ
It makes the spatial sense of “outward” visible: the work reaches into the community’s common spaces.
ḥitson: Outer; external.
חִיצוֹן
It shares the root of “outward” and emphasizes that this responsibility concerns life beyond an inner domain.
שֹׁפְטִים
shoftim
GROWS FROM
שפט
sh-p-ṭ
To judge, decide, or govern.
The judges are not only evaluators; this root also carries the work of deciding and governing. Beside outward responsibility, it shows judgment as part of the public order that holds shared life together.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: To judge, decide, or govern.
שָׁפַט
The verb names the active work carried by the judges in this verse.
mishpat: Judgment, justice, or a legal decision.
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch shows how judging becomes a structure of public justice, rather than a private opinion.
THE PATTERN
A people’s outward life is steadied by appointed roles that carry practical oversight and judgment.
You shall set judges and officers for yourself in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, throughout your tribes, and they shall judge the people with the judgment of alignment.And let them judge the people at all times; and it shall be that every great word they bring to you, but every small word they shall judge, so it will lighten from upon you, and they shall carry the burden with you.For he is God's servant toward you for good. But if you do what is evil, tremble, for he does not carry the sword for nothing. For he is God's servant, one who brings alignment out in anger toward the one who does what is evil.THE THREAD
You shall set judges and officers for yourself in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, throughout your tribes, and they shall judge the people with the judgment of alignment.This verse repeats the pairing of judges and officers and uses שפט (sh-p-ṭ; shaphat, to judge or govern), making the outward work in Chronicles concrete at the gates where public life gathers. It shows that this responsibility reaches into the community’s shared spaces.
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