What Does 2 Chronicles 35:5 Mean?
And stand in the set-apart place, according to the divisions of the houses of the fathers of your brothers, the people, and according to the portion of the Levites.
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 stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.THE KEY
The holy place holds a people who each take their place within a shared order.
THE MEANING
You stand in a place set apart, as part of a people whose distinct households belong to a larger arrangement. The verse presents belonging as both personal and shared: each place has meaning within the whole.
THE ROOT
וְעִמְדוּ
ve’imdu
GROWS FROM
עמד
To stand, remain, or take one’s place.
“stand” in this verse is ve’imdu. The verb carries more than bodily posture: it can name taking a position and remaining there. Its branches make the verse’s standing feel like a place held within the ordered whole.
ALSO GROWS
ma’amad: A station or standing place.
מַעֲמָד
The families stand in their appointed places within the gathering.
ʿammud: A pillar or column.
עַמּוּד
A pillar stands in place; the shared order gives each person a place to hold.
בַּקֹּדֶשׁ
ba-qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart, make distinct for a sacred purpose.
“set-apart place” in this verse is ba-qodesh. The word translated “holy” carries the sense of being set apart. Here, the place is distinct, while the families and divisions give the people distinct places within it.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; distinct for a sacred purpose.
קָדוֹשׁ
It shares the root that describes the place where the people stand.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary is named from the same root as the holy place in this verse.
לְמַחְלְקוֹת
le-machleqot
GROWS FROM
חלק
To divide, apportion, or share out.
“portion” in this verse is le-machleqot. The divisions are not simply separations; the root also carries the sense of portions being assigned. The verse holds distinction and belonging together: each family has its place in the shared service.
ALSO GROWS
cheleq: A portion or share.
חֵלֶק
Each division is part of the whole, with its own share of the arrangement.
machloqet: A division or section.
מַחֲלֹקֶת
The word names a distinct grouping, as the verse organizes the people by their families.
THE PATTERN
A shared sacred order gives each person and group a distinct place within the whole.
And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own banner, throughout their hosts.A Song of degrees. Behold, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, standing in the house of the LORD through the nights.Let all things become well shaped, and in rank.THE THREAD
Who climbs the mountain of the LORD? Who stands in his set-apart place?Psalm 24 uses the same Hebrew roots for “stand” and “holy place” as this verse. Its question opens the scene further: standing in the set-apart place is also a question of what it means to take one’s place before the LORD.
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