What Does 1 Chronicles 9:31 Mean?
And Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korhite, had the watch over the works made in the pans.
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 Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, had the set office over the things that were made in the pans.THE KEY
Mattithiah’s assigned pan-work is held in בֶּאֱמוּנָה (be’emunah, steadfast trust), so the text marks reliability as the substance of the office.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks into your present: a community is sustained by ordinary work entrusted to a person and carried steadily. What is made in the pans matters because others receive its fruit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only visible or elevated work carries weight: the verse gives a named place to the person responsible for pan-made offerings.
THE ROOT
בֶּאֱמוּנָה
be'emunah
GROWS FROM
אָמַן
ʾāman
To be firm, steady, or reliable; to support or confirm.
“had the set office” in this verse is be'emunah. The KJV renders Mattithiah’s role as a “set office”; the Hebrew phrase בֶּאֱמוּנָה (be’emunah, in steadiness or trustworthiness) also conveys the reliable care within that charge. The root אָמַן (ʾāman, to be firm or steady) links that trustworthiness to אָמֵן (amen, firm; truly), joining the entrusted work to the idea of what stands firm.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Steadiness, trustworthiness, faithfulness.
אֱמוּנָה
This is the quality expressed in Mattithiah’s charge: dependable care over the pan-work.
amen: Firm; truly; let it be so.
אָמֵן
The familiar response grows from the same root of firmness, linking settled words with steady responsibility.
ne'eman: Reliable, trustworthy.
נֶאֱמָן
This branch names the character of someone whose entrusted work can be depended on.
THE PATTERN
A community is sustained through ordinary work entrusted to people who carry it reliably.
In a pan it shall be made with oil, and when it is baked, you shall bring it in. The broken pieces of the gift you shall bring near for a scent that settles to the LORD.Moreover, it is sought among portioners that someone be found steady.The one who is steady in the least is steady also in much, and the one who is crooked in the least is crooked also in much.THE THREAD
Lean your weight on the LORD and do good. Pitch your tent in the land and graze on steadiness.Psalm 37:3 uses אֱמוּנָה (emunah, steadiness or trustworthiness), the same Hebrew root present in Mattithiah’s charge. The KJV renders the Psalm’s phrase as “verily thou shalt be fed”; beneath it, the shared root connects steady trust with nourishment.
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