What Does 2 Chronicles 35:14 Mean?
And afterward they set firm for themselves, and for the priests. For the priests, the sons of Aaron, were sending up the rising offerings and the fat until night, so the Levites set firm for themselves, and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
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 afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.THE KEY
The offering rises at the altar while the Levites’ preparation sets the provision in place, two parts of one shared service.
THE MEANING
When one task holds your attention until night, another person can prepare what you cannot pause to provide. Setting food ready belongs to the same shared service as the work at the altar.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that only visible, altar-facing work counts as service dissolves here: the Levites’ preparation is named alongside the priests’ offering.
THE ROOT
הֵכִינוּ
hēkhînû
GROWS FROM
כון
Be firm or established; make ready or set in place.
“set firm” in this verse is hēkhînû. The verse uses this same verb for preparing both the Levites’ own portion and the priests’ portion. The root also gives words for what is firm or established, so preparation here means setting needed provision in place for the work to continue.
ALSO GROWS
nakhon: Firm, ready, or established.
נָכוֹן
This is the same root used in Psalm 57:7 for a heart that is “fixed,” linking readiness with being made steady.
makhon: An established place, dwelling, or foundation.
מָכוֹן
This branch shows how what is set in place can become a foundation; the Levites’ preparation supports the priests’ ongoing service.
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh
GROWS FROM
עלה
Go up or ascend.
“sending up” in this verse is ʿōlāh. The burnt offering is an “ascending” offering, named from the movement of going up. The verse holds that upward offering beside the Levites’ practical work of setting food in place, joining altar service and provision in one coordinated scene.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: To go up or ascend.
עָלָה
This verb supplies the image inside the offering’s name: what is offered rises.
maʿălāh: An ascent, step, or upward slope.
מַעֲלָה
This related word keeps the root’s upward movement visible, clarifying the image carried by the burnt offering.
THE PATTERN
Shared work holds when one group prepares what another group cannot pause to provide.
But Moses' hands were heavy. And they took a stone and set it under him, and he sat upon it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on this side and the other on that side, and his hands were steady until the sun went down.Then the twelve called the full crowd of the disciples near, and said, It is not pleasing that we should leave behind the word of God and serve tables.Carry one another's weights, and so you fill up the instruction of the Anointed One.THE THREAD
My heart is set firm, O God, my heart is set firm. I sing and pluck the strings.The Hebrew word behind “fixed” is נָכוֹן (nakhon, firm or ready), from כון (kun, be firm or established; make ready), the root behind “prepared” here. In both verses, what is made ready is set in place: a heart in one, needed provision in the other.
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