What Does 2 Chronicles 35:8 Mean?
And his princes gave as a willing offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, leaders of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover two thousand and six hundred from the flock, and three hundred from the herd.
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 his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.THE KEY
The verse joins willingness to provision: what is freely offered becomes what makes the whole community’s Passover possible.
THE MEANING
Shared remembrance takes shape through freely offered provision. The rulers’ resources reach the priests and Levites, giving the people concrete means to gather for Passover. Giving, receiving, and communal remembrance move together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that spiritual participation is separate from material provision: the willing gift itself becomes part of the people’s Passover.
THE ROOT
לִנְדָבָה
lindāvāh
GROWS FROM
נדב
n-d-v
To volunteer or offer freely
“as a willing offering” in this verse is lindāvāh. The word rendered “willingly” belongs to the same root as “noble” and “generous,” linking rank with an openhanded nature. The offering is more than an amount of livestock: it is a free response that becomes provision for everyone’s Passover.
ALSO GROWS
nadiv: Noble, generous
נָדִיב
This branch joins nobility with generosity, fitting the rulers’ status to their freely given resources.
hitnaddēv: To volunteer, offer oneself
הִתְנַדֵּב
The root carries willingness into action: what is freely offered enters the shared life of the community.
נָתְנוּ
natnu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place
“gave” in this verse is natnu. The verse pairs freely offering with giving: the willing posture becomes something placed into the priests’ hands. This root’s range makes the gift a concrete placement of the means that lets the people gather for Passover.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
This is the root’s basic movement: resources are placed where they can serve the people’s gathering.
mattan: Gift, present
מַתָּן
The gift is not separate from the act of giving; it is what the leaders place into the community’s care.
THE PATTERN
Voluntary generosity places the material means of shared remembrance into the community’s hands.
Then the people rejoiced, for they offered willingly, because with a whole heart they offered willingly to the LORD, and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.And if the house is too small for the lamb, then he and his neighbor beside his house will take it according to the count of living souls. Each man, according to the mouth of his eating, you will count toward the lamb.Each one, as his heart has taken hold, so let him give, not from grief or from pressure, for God loves a glad giver.THE THREAD
Then the people rejoiced, for they offered willingly, because with a whole heart they offered willingly to the LORD, and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.The same root, נדב (nadav), to offer freely, anchors “willingly” in both verses. Here that free offering becomes provision for Passover; in 1 Chronicles, willing gifts bring joy to the people.
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