What Does 2 Chronicles 29:31 Mean?
Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now you have filled your hands to the LORD. Draw near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were free-hearted brought burnt offerings.
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
Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.THE KEY
What the KJV calls consecration is literally “filling your hands” for the LORD: being set apart becomes something you carry toward God.
THE MEANING
Your consecration takes shape as hands filled for the LORD, followed by coming near and bringing something. The willing heart matters: burnt offerings rise from free giving, not mere obligation. Hezekiah’s name, חִזְקִיָּהוּ (Ḥizqiyyāhû, “YHWH strengthens”), puts the LORD’s strengthening in the voice that calls the people near.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being set apart is only an inward status, with nothing for your hands to carry or your willing heart to offer.
THE ROOT
מִלֵּאתֶם יֶדְכֶם
milletem yedkhem
GROWS FROM
מלא
to fill, make full
“filled your hands” in this verse is milletem yedkhem. The phrase behind “consecrated yourselves” is literally “you have filled your hand(s) to the LORD.” Setting yourself apart is pictured as something concrete: your hands are made ready to carry what you bring near.
ALSO GROWS
millu’im: installation or consecration; literally, “fillings”
מִלּוּאִים
This branch links filling the hand with being set apart for service.
mālēʾ: full, filled
מָלֵא
The root’s sense of fullness gives consecration a tangible image: hands are occupied and ready.
גְּשׁוּ
geshu
GROWS FROM
נגשׁ
to approach, draw near
“draw near” in this verse is geshu. The command to approach stands beside the command to bring offerings. A related causative form means “bring” or “present,” joining the person who draws near with what is placed before God.
ALSO GROWS
nigash: approached, drew near
נִגַּשׁ
It shows that nearness is a movement toward God.
higgish: brought forward, presented
הִגִּישׁ
This form makes the link between approaching and bringing something forward.
נְדִיב לֵב
nediv lev
GROWS FROM
נדב
to volunteer, offer freely
“free-hearted” in this verse is nediv lev. Nadiv carries willingness and generosity, not simply freedom from restraint. The burnt offerings come from hearts that volunteer, so the offering itself gives visible form to willing nearness.
ALSO GROWS
nadiv: willing, generous
נָדִיב
This is the word describing the people whose hearts freely bring offerings.
nedavah: freewill gift or offering
נְדָבָה
It makes the root’s movement from willingness to a freely given offering explicit.
THE PATTERN
Consecration takes shape as freely offered nearness, with the heart’s willingness made visible.
The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman whose heart made them free-hearted to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.Each one, as his heart has taken hold, so let him give, not from grief or from pressure, for God loves a glad giver.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
You gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and set the caps on them. The priest's office is theirs by statute for the ages, and you fill the hands of Aaron and his sons.The Hebrew behind “consecrate” shares the root מלא (mālēʾ, “fill”) with the filled-hand phrase in this verse. That shared root opens the image further: being set apart is pictured as hands made ready for what is brought to God.
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