What Does 2 Chronicles 6:31 Mean?
That they may stand in awe of you, to walk in your ways all the days they live upon the face of the ground which you gave to our fathers.
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
That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.THE KEY
Awe becomes visible in the way you walk, across every day on ground received as a gift.
THE MEANING
Awe of God is lived as a path, not left as a passing feeling. Your days unfold on ground described as received from God, and the verse holds the place and course of life within that relationship.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that reverence is only an inward feeling or spoken confession; here it takes shape in the path a life walks.
THE ROOT
יִירָאוּךָ
yir'ukha
GROWS FROM
ירא
To fear or stand in awe; when God is the one feared, the established sense is awe.
“stand in awe of” in this verse is yir'ukha. The word translated “fear” belongs to a root whose range includes both fear and reverent awe. With God as its object, the word carries awe that is already turned toward a lived walk.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: Awe, reverence, or fear
יִרְאָה
This related form names the reverent orientation behind “fear thee.”
noraʾ: Awe-inspiring or fearsome
נוֹרָא
This form shows the same root describing what calls forth awe.
דְּרָכֶיךָ
derakhekha
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread or step; as a noun, a trodden way or path.
“Ways” can sound like an abstract code, but its Hebrew root is linked to treading: a path made concrete by movement. Alongside the verse’s verb הָלַךְ (halakh, “to walk or go”), it makes reverence something lived step by step.
ALSO GROWS
derekh: Way, road, or path
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the noun translated “ways,” carrying the image of a route taken.
darakh: To tread or step
דָּרַךְ
The related verb connects a way with the act of moving along it.
נָתַתָּ
natatta
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
“gavest” in this verse is natatta. The land is described with a verb whose range includes both giving and placing. The place where life unfolds is thus presented as received gift.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
This is the root verb behind “gavest,” naming the land as given.
mattanah: Gift
מַתָּנָה
This related noun makes the gift dimension of the root visible.
THE PATTERN
Reverence and closeness to God become visible in the way a life is lived.
A Song of degrees. Flourishing is everyone in awe of the LORD, who walks in his ways.And if you call upon the Father, who judges without partiality, according to the work of each, walk through the time of your dwelling alongside in awe.The one who says he remains in him ought himself also to walk, just as that one walked.THE THREAD
Therefore you shall guard the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to stand in awe of him.Deuteronomy uses the same roots for walking and fearing as this verse. It states their connection directly: awe of God takes the form of walking in God’s ways.
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