What Does 1 Chronicles 9:13 Mean?
And their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand and seven hundred and threescore; men mighty in strength for the work of serving in the house of God.
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 their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand and seven hundred and threescore; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.THE KEY
The verse counts strength by what it can serve: the Hebrew word for service also carries the sense of labor.
THE MEANING
The verse places strength within a community, expressed through work that serves the house of God. In your life now, capacity becomes visible in the work that sustains what is shared and set apart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that sacred service and practical labor are separate dissolves here: the verse names the labor itself as service.
THE ROOT
עֲבֹדָה
avodah
GROWS FROM
עבד
to work, labor, or serve
The noun for service comes from the same root as words for working and serving; Hebrew holds the labor and the service it performs together. In “the work of the service,” capable people sustain the house through their labor.
ALSO GROWS
avad: to work or serve
עָבַד
This verb shows the action held within the verse’s word for service.
eved: servant or worker
עֶבֶד
This noun names one who serves, linking the person’s role to the labor described in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Capacity becomes meaningful as service that sustains shared life.
And the LORD God took Adam and set him down in the garden of Eden, to serve it and to guard it.And he said, Surely I will be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.As each has received a gift, serve it to one another as good stewards of the many-colored favor of God.THE THREAD
And the LORD God took Adam and set him down in the garden of Eden, to serve it and to guard it.“To dress it” uses עבד (avad), the same root behind עֲבֹדָה (avodah), “service,” in this verse. The garden’s tending and the house’s service share one root: labor that cares for a dwelling.
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