What Does 2 Chronicles 29:15 Mean?
And they gathered their brothers, and set themselves apart, and came, according to the command of the king, by the word of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.
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 gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.THE KEY
The house is cleansed only after its keepers set themselves apart, joining the state of those who tend it to the state of the dwelling.
THE MEANING
Restoration begins in the people tending what is sacred: they become set apart, then the LORD’s house is cleansed. What is tended outwardly is joined to the condition of those tending it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a sacred place can be restored while the people serving it remain unchanged.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְקַדָּשׁוּ
wayyitqaddāshū
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־שׁ
q-d-sh
Set apart; consecrate as belonging to the sacred.
“set themselves apart” in this verse is wayyitqaddāshū. The Hebrew describes the people setting themselves apart before they cleanse the LORD’s house. The same root appears in מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdāsh, sanctuary), joining consecrated people with a consecrated dwelling.
ALSO GROWS
qādōsh: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
The people’s own consecration carries the same root idea as what is set apart as sacred.
miqdāsh: Sanctuary; set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
This branch links the setting apart of people with the sacred place they are preparing to cleanse.
לְטַהֵר
ləṭahēr
GROWS FROM
ט־ה־ר
ṭ-h-r
Be clean or pure; purify.
“cleanse” in this verse is ləṭahēr. The verse’s cleansing is more than surface tidying: the root speaks of purity. The people first set themselves apart, then carry that work of purification into the house.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāhōr: Clean; pure.
טָהוֹר
The adjective shows the state toward which the house is being cleansed.
ṭohŏrāh: Cleanness; purity.
טָהֳרָה
This noun names the purified condition that the verb in the verse works toward.
THE PATTERN
What is being prepared for sacred work is made ready through consecration and cleansing.
And the LORD said to Moses, Go to the people, and set them apart today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.And Joshua said to the people, Set yourselves apart, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.If anyone therefore cleanses himself out of these, he will be a vessel for honor, set apart, good for the master's use, prepared for every good work.THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Moses, Go to the people, and set them apart today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.The Hebrew root ק־ד־שׁ (q-d-sh, set apart) appears in both verses. Here, setting apart and cleansing prepare the people for encounter; in 2 Chronicles, the same sequence prepares them to cleanse the LORD’s house.
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