What Does 2 Chronicles 6:14 Mean?
And he said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you, in the heavens, nor in the earth, who guards covenant and faithful love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart,
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 said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:THE KEY
God’s incomparability becomes visible in how he guards covenant and faithful love for those who walk before him whole-heartedly.
THE MEANING
The LORD is incomparable in heaven and earth, and his greatness reaches you as a keeper of covenant and faithful love. Your life before him is described as a whole-hearted walk, held in relationship with his constancy.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that God’s greatness means distance: the one without equal is encountered through guarded covenant and faithful love.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
faithful love, kindness, or loyalty expressed within a relationship
חֶסֶד (chesed, faithful love) stands beside covenant in this verse, giving “mercy” the texture of enduring loyalty. Its related words describe both the act of showing kindness and the person marked by faithfulness.
ALSO GROWS
ḥasad: to show kindness or act faithfully
חָסַד
This verbal form makes faithful love an active expression within a relationship.
ḥasid: a faithful or devout person
חָסִיד
This related word describes a person marked by the loyalty that חֶסֶד (chesed, faithful love) expresses.
שֹׁמֵר
shomer
GROWS FROM
שמר
to guard, watch over, or keep
“guards” in this verse is shomer. The Hebrew calls God a שֹׁמֵר (shomer, guardian or keeper): the one who watches over both covenant and חֶסֶד (chesed, faithful love). “Keep” carries the sense of ongoing attention, so divine faithfulness here has the shape of guarding a relationship.
ALSO GROWS
shamar: to guard, watch over, or keep
שָׁמַר
This verb names the active guarding expressed by שֹׁמֵר (shomer, keeper).
mishmeret: a charge, watch, or guard duty
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
It carries the same root into an entrusted watch, illuminating the attentive care implied by keeping covenant.
THE PATTERN
God’s incomparable character is made visible in covenant and faithful love that endure across generations.
Perceive therefore that the LORD your God is God, the steady God, who guards the covenant and faithful love for those who love him and guard his commands to a thousand generations.I will guard my faithful love for him for the ages, and my covenant stands firm with him.To make faithful love with our fathers, and to remember his set-apart covenant;THE THREAD
Perceive therefore that the LORD your God is God, the steady God, who guards the covenant and faithful love for those who love him and guard his commands to a thousand generations.Deuteronomy joins the same ideas found here: God keeps covenant and חֶסֶד (chesed, faithful love). Its reference to a thousand generations opens the verse’s image of guarded relationship into a promise that continues across time.
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