What Does 2 Chronicles 34:10 Mean?
And they gave it into the hand of the workers who were set over the house of the LORD; and they gave it to the workers who did the work in the house of the LORD, to strengthen and to set right the house.
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 put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house:THE KEY
Repair here means making firm again: the house is restored when accountable hands turn oversight into strengthening work.
THE MEANING
Restoration reaches the house through an accountable chain: those entrusted with its oversight place resources in the hands of workers, who strengthen and repair it. Damage meets careful, practical work; responsibility reaches all the way to the place where repair happens.
THE ROOT
לְחַזֵּק
lekhazzeq
GROWS FROM
חזק
chazaq
To be firm or strong; to strengthen or make firm.
“strengthen” in this verse is lekhazzeq. The word names more than patching damage: it is making the house firm again. This root can also mean to hold fast, so repair becomes strength made tangible, a secure hold restored.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Be strong, become firm, or prevail.
חָזַק
The work restores the house’s firmness, not merely its appearance.
heḥĕzîq: Take hold of or hold fast.
הֶחֱזִיק
The same root can describe a firm grasp; here, strength takes shape through work that holds the house together.
לְבַדֵּק
lebaddeq
GROWS FROM
בדק
badaq
To examine, inspect, or test; in this building context, to repair.
The word translated “amend” carries the sense of inspecting what needs attention. Its word family also names a breach, linking careful examination to the gap the repair addresses.
ALSO GROWS
badaq: Examine, inspect, or test.
בָּדַק
The repair is attentive to the actual condition of the house, not a vague idea of improvement.
bedek: A breach or gap in a structure.
בֶּדֶק
The related word names the damage to be repaired, joining the act of inspection to the opening that needs attention.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling is restored when responsibility, skilled hands, and shared labor meet in the work itself.
He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the carver, and of the designer, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any work, and of those who devise designs.So we built the wall, and all the wall was tied together to half of it, for the people had heart to work.For we are fellow workers with God. You are God's field; you are God's building.THE THREAD
Strengthen the hands that have let go, and steady the knees that buckle.The word translated “Strengthen” comes from the same root, חזק (chazaq), as the word for repairing the house. Isaiah speaks of weak hands made strong; here the house is strengthened through the hands at work.
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