What Does 2 Chronicles 31:5 Mean?
And as soon as the word went out, the children of Israel brought in abundance of the firstfruits of grain, wine, and oil, and honey, and all that came in from the field, and the tenth of all things they brought in abundantly.
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 as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.THE KEY
The commandment is not said merely to arrive; the Hebrew says the word breaks through, and the response answers with abundance repeated twice.
THE MEANING
The verse holds the first yield and a tenth of everything together in abundance. The word’s breakthrough opens into a response that stretches from what comes first to the field’s full increase.
THE ROOT
כְּפִרְצַת
kefirtsat
GROWS FROM
פרץ
parats
To break through, burst out, or make a breach.
The word translated “abroad” carries the image of a breach or breakthrough: the word spreads as something breaking outward. Its arrival feels like an opening force, not merely a quiet announcement.
ALSO GROWS
perets: A breach or opening.
פֶּרֶץ
The word’s spreading is pictured as an opening through which the response can flow.
parats: To break through, burst out, or spread.
פָּרַץ
This verb gives the verse’s “came abroad” the sense of movement outward.
הִרְבּוּ
hirbu
GROWS FROM
רבה
rabah
To increase, become many, or grow great.
The verse first says they increased and later says the tithe came in abundance, repeating this root’s sense of becoming many. Abundance describes the breadth of the response, from the first yield to a tenth of everything.
ALSO GROWS
rav: Great or many.
רַב
This branch shows the root’s link between increase and a large number.
rov: Abundance or multitude.
רֹב
This noun echoes the abundance of the tithe brought in the verse.
רֵאשִׁית
reshit
GROWS FROM
ראש
rosh
Head, beginning, or foremost part.
The word behind “firstfruits” means the beginning or foremost portion and is linked to the sense of “head.” It keeps the first yield connected to the harvest that follows, as the verse widens from that beginning to the field’s full increase.
ALSO GROWS
rosh: Head or top.
רֹאשׁ
The sense of “head” illuminates the first portion as the foremost part of the harvest.
rishon: First or foremost.
רִאשׁוֹן
This branch carries the same priority of what comes at the beginning.
THE PATTERN
The first yield stands within the movement of the whole, marking the beginning of what follows.
Give the LORD weight with your wealth, and with the first of all your yield.The first of the first-ripened of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in his mother's milk.But now the Anointed One has been awakened from the dead, and has become the first portion of those who have lain down to sleep.THE THREAD
Give the LORD weight with your wealth, and with the first of all your yield.“Firstfruits” here and in Chronicles translates the same Hebrew word for the beginning or foremost portion. Proverbs sets that beginning beside all the increase, just as Chronicles holds the first yield beside the tithe of everything.
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