What Does 2 Chronicles 5:13 Mean?
And it came to be, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice heard in praising and in extending the hands to the LORD; and when they lifted their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of song, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; his faithful love is for the ages. Then the house was filled with a cloud, the house of the LORD.
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
It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;THE KEY
The house fills as distinct voices become one sound centered on the LORD’s goodness and faithful love.
THE MEANING
The different voices in and around you can gather into one sound without becoming identical. Their shared praise gives the room a center: the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures. The house fills with cloud, and what is unseen becomes a palpable fullness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Unity does not require sameness: the trumpets, cymbals, instruments, and voices remain distinct, yet their sound is one.
THE ROOT
אֶחָד
echad
GROWS FROM
אחד
One; united as one.
The same word describes the singers being as one and the single sound they make. Here, oneness holds many voices and instruments together without erasing their distinct sounds.
ALSO GROWS
aḥadim: Ones; joined into one.
אֲחָדִים
The plural form keeps the many visible within the unity the verse describes.
le'ached: To unite, to make one.
לְאַחֵד
This verbal branch makes the movement audible: separate voices are brought into a shared sound.
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
Faithful, enduring love.
The refrain names more than leniency: it declares the LORD’s faithful love as enduring. That shared declaration gives the many voices a common center.
ALSO GROWS
chasid: A faithful or devoted one.
חָסִיד
This branch describes a person by the same quality of faithfulness proclaimed in the song.
chasadim: Acts of faithful love.
חֲסָדִים
The plural form gives enduring love concrete expression through repeated acts.
הַלֵּל
hallel
GROWS FROM
הלל
Praise.
“praising” in this verse is hallel. Praise here is made audible by voices, trumpets, cymbals, and instruments together. The verse shows praise as a shared sound carrying a clear declaration: the LORD is good.
ALSO GROWS
tehillah: Praise; a song of praise.
תְּהִלָּה
This noun names the kind of shared song rising through the house.
hallelu-yah: Praise Yah.
הַלְלוּיָהּ
The same praise-root appears in a compact call that names the one being praised.
THE PATTERN
When distinct voices join around a shared truth, they become a common testimony.
And they sang back to one another in praise, extending the hand in thanks unto the LORD, for he is good, for his faithful love endures for the ages toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.And when they heard this, they lifted up their voice to God with one passion and said, "Master, you are God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them."So that with one passion and one mouth you may give weight to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.The same Hebrew word, אֶחָד (echad, one), describes the singers’ one sound here and the LORD’s oneness there. Deuteronomy names the unity at the center of their praise; this song gives that unity a sound made of many voices.
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