What Does 2 Chronicles 29:5 Mean?
And he said to them, Hear and respond to me, Levites. Set yourselves apart now, and set apart the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filthiness from the set-apart place.
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 said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.THE KEY
The same Hebrew root names both the Levites setting themselves apart and the house being set apart, while the next command makes that holiness visible by carrying defilement out.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as a hearer who can recognize consecration in action: what defiles the holy place is carried out. The same root binds the people and the LORD’s house in one movement of setting apart, so holiness belongs to both the people and the space they tend.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that sacredness is only a status while defilement remains untouched.
THE ROOT
הִתְקַדְּשׁוּ
hitqaddeshu
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart, make sacred.
“set yourselves apart” in this verse is hitqaddeshu. Hebrew repeats the same root as the Levites set themselves apart and set the house apart. This root also names the sanctuary, linking holiness to both the people and the space marked for God.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; holy.
קָדוֹשׁ
The people are set apart in the same terms as the quality that marks the holy place.
miqdash: Sanctuary; sacred place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary shares the root of the act of sanctifying, connecting the house’s sacred character to being set apart.
וְהוֹצִיאוּ
vehotsi'u
GROWS FROM
יצא
y-ts-ʾ
Go out, come out, emerge.
The phrase translated “carry forth” is a causative form of the verb “go out”: the Levites make the defilement go out. The grammar gives restoration a direction, showing holiness as what defiles the space is removed.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: Go out; come out.
יָצָא
The verse turns this movement into an action that takes defilement beyond the holy place.
motsa: Exit; going out; source.
מוֹצָא
This branch carries the same idea of departure, illuminating the passage’s movement from inside the sacred space to outside it.
THE PATTERN
Consecration becomes visible as what defiles the sacred space is removed.
Bathe, and become clear. Remove the harm of your deeds from before my eyes. Let go of doing harm.Then I will sprinkle clean waters upon you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols.Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every stain of flesh and breath, completing our set-apartness in the awe of God.THE THREAD
And he said, Do not draw near here. Loosen the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is set-apart ground.The word translated “holy” shares the root of “sanctify” in this verse. Exodus names the ground as set apart; here, that same set-apart quality is enacted through the people and the house, as defilement is carried out.
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