What Does 2 Chronicles 20:8 Mean?
They settled in it, and built you a set-apart place there for your nature, saying,
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 they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,THE KEY
They build a sanctuary for God’s name, making God’s nature the center of the place where they live.
THE MEANING
A sanctuary is a place set apart for God’s name, God’s nature made the center of shared life. The verse places the sacred within an inhabited place. Its final “saying” opens into the words that follow.
THE ROOT
מִקְדָּשׁ
miqdash
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
q-d-sh
To set apart, mark as distinct.
The sanctuary is a set-apart place within the land where people live. Because it is built “for thy name”, shem (שֵׁם, name as nature), it gives that nature a dwelling among them.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
The same root describes what is set apart, showing that the sanctuary’s character comes from its dedication.
qodesh: Set-apartness; sacredness.
קֹדֶשׁ
This noun names the quality the sanctuary embodies: a space marked out for God’s presence.
hiqdish: To set apart, dedicate.
הִקְדִּישׁ
This verb names the act that makes a place distinct for the nature it is meant to hold.
יָשְׁבוּ
yashvu
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
To sit, remain, or dwell.
“settled” in this verse is yashvu. The same root holds sitting, staying, and inhabiting together. The verse connects ordinary dwelling with the sanctuary built within that same inhabited place.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: One who sits or dwells; an inhabitant.
יֹשֵׁב
The inhabitant and the act of dwelling share the same root, tying the people’s daily presence to the place they set apart.
moshav: A dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch makes the shared ground of the verse visible: a settlement is where people dwell, and within it they build a sanctuary.
THE PATTERN
God’s set-apart presence takes up residence among people and gives their shared life a center.
And let them make me a set-apart place, that I may pitch my tent among them.That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you have said, My name shall be there, so that you may hear and respond to the prayer which your servant makes toward this place.And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.THE THREAD
That your eyes may be open upon this house day and night, even upon the place of which you have said you would set your name there, to hear and respond to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.The same Hebrew word shem (שֵׁם, “name”) appears here and in 20:8. This verse describes God placing that name in the house, making the sanctuary a dwelling for God’s nature and a place toward which prayer turns.
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