What Does 2 Chronicles 29:21 Mean?
And they brought seven bulls, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven male goats, as an offering for falling short, for the governance, for the set-apart place, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to send them up on the altar 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 brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.THE KEY
The missing reaches the kingdom, sanctuary, and people together, so it is carried as a communal breach rather than a private fault.
THE MEANING
The verse names a breach across shared governance, the set-apart center, and the people themselves. Repair takes visible, costly form: animals are brought for all three, and the priests act at the altar. The missing touches the whole order of shared life, not only one person’s private conduct.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
That what is wrong in a community belongs only to individuals and leaves its governing order and sacred center untouched.
THE ROOT
חַטָּאת
ḥaṭṭāʾt
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥṭʾ
to miss, fall short, or go wrong
“offering for falling short” in this verse is ḥaṭṭāʾt. The Hebrew term carries both the missing and the offering brought in relation to it. The verse directs attention to what is being addressed across the kingdom, sanctuary, and people, as well as to the animals brought to the altar.
ALSO GROWS
chata: to miss, err, or go wrong
חָטָא
It names the underlying action associated with the offering: missing.
chet: a missing or offense
חֵטְא
It names the breach itself, connecting the rite to what has gone wrong.
chatta't: missing; sin offering
חַטָּאת
The same form can name the missing and the offering brought in response to it.
מַמְלָכָה
mamlākāh
GROWS FROM
מלך
mlk
to reign or rule
“governance” in this verse is mamlākāh. The word for kingdom grows from the root for ruling. The verse places the breach within the order that governs shared life, alongside the sanctuary and the people.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: king
מֶלֶךְ
The ruler belongs to the same word-family as the kingdom whose condition is addressed.
malakh: to reign or rule
מָלַךְ
The verb makes the governing action audible within the word for kingdom.
mamlākāh: kingdom or realm
מַמְלָכָה
It names the shared domain included in the offering’s scope.
מִקְדָּשׁ
miqdāsh
GROWS FROM
קדש
qdsh
to set apart
“set-apart place” in this verse is miqdāsh. The sanctuary’s word carries set-apartness in its seed. Its inclusion shows that what is set apart stands within the same scope as governance and the people.
ALSO GROWS
qadash: to be set apart
קָדַשׁ
The verb names the quality carried within the sanctuary’s word.
qodesh: set-apartness; sacredness
קֹדֶשׁ
It expresses the condition associated with the sanctuary.
miqdāsh: sanctuary
מִקְדָּשׁ
It names the set-apart place included in the verse’s communal scope.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats the missing as something that can belong to a whole people, not only to an individual.
And if the whole assembly of Israel misses the mark through straying, and the word is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do against one of the commandments of the LORD, concerning the things which ought not to be done, and they are guilty;And said, O my God, I am ashamed and struck down to lift up my face to you, my God. For our crookednesses have multiplied over our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.For all have missed the mark, and fall short of the weight of God.THE THREAD
When the falling short in which they have missed the mark is perceived, the assembly brings near a young bull as an offering for falling short, and brings it before the tent of meeting.Leviticus uses חַטָּאת (chatta’t, missing or sin offering) for both the congregation’s missing and the offering brought in response. The shared word opens the same connection here, where the offering’s reach includes the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah.
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