What Does 2 Chronicles 9:24 Mean?
And they brought each man his present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, garments, weapons, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year.
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 they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.THE KEY
The Hebrew pictures a gift made to arrive in the king’s presence, with that arrival renewed year after year.
THE MEANING
Honor takes material shape here: each man brings his own gift, and the flow returns every year. The list ranges from precious metals and clothing to spices and animals, showing many forms of value arriving together.
THE ROOT
מְבִיאִים
mevi’im
GROWS FROM
בוא
בוא (bo) means to come or enter; in this verb form, to cause something to come, or bring it.
“brought” in this verse is mevi’im. The verb pictures the gifts coming into the king’s presence. The yearly rhythm makes that arrival a recurring flow rather than a single event.
ALSO GROWS
bo: to come, enter
בּוֹא
The root’s basic sense reveals the movement inside “brought”: something comes into a new presence.
mavo: entrance, entry
מָבוֹא
This noun from the same root names the place of coming in, echoing the gifts’ arrival before the king.
tevu’ah: produce, yield, income
תְּבוּאָה
This word names what comes in as a harvest or return, extending the root’s sense of arrival into an inflow of value.
דְּבַר־שָׁנָה
devar-shanah
GROWS FROM
דבר
דבר (davar) means word or speech, and as a noun also means a matter or thing.
“a rate year by year” in this verse is devar-shanah. The KJV’s “rate” conveys regularity; the Hebrew phrase speaks of the matter of a year. The same root holds both what is spoken and what is treated as a matter or thing.
ALSO GROWS
davar: word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
This noun is the form used in the annual phrase, linking the yearly tribute to a defined matter.
dibber: to speak, declare
דִּבֵּר
The verb shares the root and carries its sense of an utterance or declaration.
devarim: words, matters, things
דְּבָרִים
The plural keeps the same range of speech and matters, showing how one root gathers these senses together.
שָׁנָה
shanah
GROWS FROM
שׁנה
שׁנה (sh-n-h) carries the sense of repeating or doing again; שָׁנָה names the recurring year.
“year by year” in this verse is shanah. The phrase repeats “year” to make the cycle unmistakable. The gift is part of a pattern that returns with each turn of the year.
ALSO GROWS
shanah: year; as a verb, to repeat
שָׁנָה
The word in the verse names the cycle in which the giving comes around again.
sheni: second
שֵׁנִי
This related form marks what comes next in a sequence, echoing the repeated order of the years.
mishneh: second copy, double portion
מִשְׁנֶה
This branch carries the idea of another instance or a doubled amount, extending the root’s sense of repetition.
THE PATTERN
Recognition of a ruler becomes visible through gifts that repeatedly arrive in that ruler’s presence.
The kings of Tarshish and the coastlands return a tribute, and the kings of Sheba and Seba draw near with gifts.A flood of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba shall come, carrying gold and frankincense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD.And when they had entered the house, they perceived the young child with Mary his mother, and fell to the ground and bowed down before him. And when they had opened their treasures, they brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.THE THREAD
The kings of Tarshish and the coastlands return a tribute, and the kings of Sheba and Seba draw near with gifts.The Hebrew behind “shall bring” comes from בוא (bo, to come or enter), the same root behind “they brought” here. Both verses picture honor as goods coming into a king’s presence; Chronicles emphasizes that the arrival returns year after year.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us