What Does 1 Chronicles 28:10 Mean?
See now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the set-apart place. Be strong, and do it.
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
Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.THE KEY
The command to “be strong” is joined to the work itself: the house gives what is set apart a dwelling.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as chosen for work that gives what is set apart a dwelling. Strength is joined to action: the work becomes tangible as you carry it out.
THE ROOT
חֲזַק
ḥazaq
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be firm or strong; in other forms, to strengthen or hold fast.
English can make “be strong” sound like an inward feeling; חזק (ḥ-z-q, firmness or strength) also forms verbs for strengthening and taking hold. Here, strength is bound to the action that follows: “be strong, and do it.”
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: Be strong; become firm.
חָזַק
This is the verb at the heart of the command in the verse.
ḥizzēq: Strengthen; make firm.
חִזֵּק
The same root can describe making something stronger, not only feeling strong.
heḥĕzîq: Hold fast; take hold.
הֶחֱזִיק
This branch connects strength with maintaining a firm hold on the work.
מִקְדָּשׁ
miqdāsh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart; to dedicate as sacred.
“set-apart place” in this verse is miqdāsh. The sanctuary word grows from the same root as “set apart.” The house is not just a structure; its purpose is to give a dwelling to what is dedicated.
ALSO GROWS
qādōsh: Set apart; holy.
קָדוֹשׁ
This is the familiar description of what belongs to the sacred.
qōdesh: Set-apartness; holiness; a sacred place.
קֹדֶשׁ
This branch shows the shared root directly: the sanctuary is a place marked out as set apart.
qiddēsh: Set apart; dedicate.
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb names the act of dedicating something to a sacred purpose.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling for God’s presence takes form through human participation.
And let them make me a set-apart place, that I may pitch my tent among them.For we are fellow workers with God. You are God's field; you are God's building.In whom you also are built together into a place where God settles, through breath.THE THREAD
And he said, Do not draw near here. Loosen the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is set-apart ground.The word מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdāsh, sanctuary) in Chronicles and קֹדֶשׁ (qōdesh, holiness) in Exodus share the root קדש (q-d-sh, set apart). Exodus shows a place set apart before a house is built; the house serves that sacred presence rather than creating it.
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