What Does 2 Chronicles 29:28 Mean?

And all the assembly bowed down, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters blew, and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

2 Chronicles 29:28 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

THE KEY

The burnt offering is an ascent, and the congregation’s bowing, song, and trumpet sound continue until that rising is complete.

THE MEANING

Reverence here is a shared, audible, bodily response: the congregation bows, singers sing, and trumpets sound. All of it continues until the ascent offering is complete, holding posture and sound together with what is offered.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that worship is only an inward or private feeling: here it takes shared bodily and audible form.

THE ROOT

הָעֹלָה

ha-ʿolah

GROWS FROM

עלה

to go up, ascend

Under “burnt offering” is ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (ʿolah), the ascent offering, from ⁨עָלָה⁩ (ʿalah), “to ascend.” The worship continues until that rising is complete, joining the assembly’s sound to the movement named by the offering.

ALSO GROWS

ʿalah: To rise or go up.

עָלָה

This verb shares the offering’s root and makes its upward movement audible.

maʿalah: An ascent or upward step.

מַעֲלָה

It carries the same root’s sense of upward movement, echoing the offering’s name.

מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים

mishtachavim

GROWS FROM

שחה

to bow down, prostrate oneself

“bowed down” in this verse is mishtachavim. The word rendered “worshipped” pictures the congregation bowing low. Reverence takes a shared posture alongside the singers’ voices and the trumpets’ sound.

ALSO GROWS

shachah: To bow or prostrate oneself.

שָׁחָה

This basic form makes the bodily posture within “worshipped” visible.

hishtachava'ah: The act of bowing down.

הִשְׁתַּחֲוָאָה

It names the posture shared by the congregation in this verse.

THE PATTERN

Reverence gathers bodies, voices, and instruments into a shared offering to God.

Praise him with the thrust of the ram's horn; praise him with the harp and the lyre.

Psalm 150:3 · SDVPraise takes audible form through instruments, as the trumpet sound does in this verse.

Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.

Romans 12:1 · SDVThe offering is embodied, as the congregation’s bowing makes reverence bodily here.

Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.

Hebrews 13:15 · SDVPraise becomes an offering carried by voices, echoing the song and sound that continue here.

THE THREAD

And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.

Genesis 8:20 · SDV

The Hebrew behind “burnt offerings” here is ⁨עֹלוֹת⁩ (ʿolot), the plural of ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (ʿolah), the same word used in the current verse. Both keep the sense of ascent in the offering’s name, so the singing and trumpet sound continue until that ascent is complete.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us