What Does 2 Chronicles 6:13 Mean?
For Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court. And upon it he stood, and knelt upon his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread his palms toward the heavens,
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
For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven,THE KEY
The Hebrew word for kneeling shares its root with “bless,” so Solomon’s body bends into the blessing his prayer is about to voice.
THE MEANING
Prayer takes shape in the body: knees bend while hands open toward heaven. The posture holds lowering and reaching together, in full view of the gathered people.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Prayer is purely inward, with no part for the body or the gathered community.
THE ROOT
וַיִּבְרַךְ
wayyivrek from barak
GROWS FROM
ברך
To bend or kneel; in another form, to bless.
The verb translated “kneeled” and the following word for “knees” repeat the root ברך, which also gives “blessing.” Hebrew holds the body’s bending and the prayer’s blessing together in one root.
ALSO GROWS
birkav: his knees
בִּרְכָּיו
The noun for Solomon’s knees repeats the root in the verb translated “kneeled,” making the bodily action explicit.
berakhah: blessing
בְּרָכָה
This branch from the same root links bending the knee with blessing.
THE PATTERN
Prayer becomes visible through the body’s lowering and opening.
Enter, let us bow down and kneel before the face of the LORD who makes us.I will therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up set-apart hands, without anger and divided reasoning.THE THREAD
And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and be a blessing.The Hebrew verb translated “bless” here comes from the same root, ברך, as the word translated “kneeled” in 2 Chronicles 6:13. The shared root draws blessing and the bent knee into one image.
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