What Does 1 Chronicles 6:49 Mean?
But Aaron and his sons made smoke rise upon the altar of the burnt offering, and upon the altar of smoke, for all the work of the most set-apart place, and to make a covering for Israel, according to all that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded.
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
But Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for all the work of the place most holy, and to make an atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.THE KEY
Atonement is the covering held within an entire pattern of approach: rising smoke, set-apart service, and care for the whole people.
THE MEANING
Your nearness to God is pictured as a whole pattern: what rises from the altar, what fills the air as incense, and what covers Israel belong to entrusted service. The verse speaks now of repair as a shared practice, carried out in a set-apart life under divine instruction.
THE ROOT
כַּפֵּר
kappēr
GROWS FROM
כפר
k-p-r
Cover, cover over.
“to make a covering” in this verse is kappēr. The verb translated “make an atonement” shares its root with the word for the ark’s covering. Hebrew holds repair and covering together: the verse pictures Israel as a people held within that covering.
ALSO GROWS
Kippur: Covering; atonement.
כִּפּוּר
It carries the same root into the name for atonement, keeping the idea of covering audible.
Kapporet: Covering; the cover over the ark.
כַּפֹּרֶת
The shared root links the act of atonement to a physical covering at the center of the set-apart place.
מַקְטִירִים
maqtirīm
GROWS FROM
קטר
q-t-r
Make smoke rise; burn incense.
“made smoke rise” in this verse is maqtirīm. The Hebrew word translated “offered” shares its root with “incense.” The altar offering and the incense belong to one image of smoke rising, joining the acts that frame Israel’s covering.
ALSO GROWS
Qetoret: Incense.
קְטֹרֶת
This is the same root as the verse’s word for “offered,” directly joining the altar and incense.
Hiqtir: Make an offering smoke; burn incense.
הִקְטִיר
This verb shows the action inside “offered”: making smoke rise.
קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים
qōdesh haqqodāshīm
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; consecrate.
“the most set-apart place” in this verse is qōdesh haqqodāshīm. “Most holy” is literally the “holy of holies,” repeating the word for what is set apart. The work is defined by the place’s concentrated set-apartness, not merely by its tasks.
ALSO GROWS
Qadosh: Set apart.
קָדוֹשׁ
The adjective names the quality repeated in the “holy of holies.”
Miqdash: Sanctuary; set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
This related word makes the place itself a space marked as set apart.
THE PATTERN
A people’s approach and cleansing are carried through set-apart acts performed on their behalf.
For on that day the priest makes a covering for you, to cleanse you, so that you may be clean from all your shortcomings before the LORD.And he touched it to my mouth, and said, Look, this has touched your lips, and your crookedness turns aside, and your falling short is covered.But into the second, once a year, goes the high priest alone, not without blood, which he brings near for himself and for the unknowing missings of the people.THE THREAD
And he touched it to my mouth, and said, Look, this has touched your lips, and your crookedness turns aside, and your falling short is covered.The Hebrew verb translated “purged” is תְּכֻפָּר (tekuppar), from כפר, the same root behind “make an atonement” here. Isaiah lets the shared root show covering as something that reaches even the lips.
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