What Does 1 Chronicles 13:6 Mean in the King James?
And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The people are carrying more than an ark: the name, the nature, of the One enthroned between the cherubim is called upon it.
THE MEANING
You encounter divine presence here at the center of a people’s shared movement: David and all Israel go up to bring the ark up. The LORD dwells between the cherubim, and his name is called upon the ark, binding the nature of the One named to what the people carry. The verse joins movement, community, and invoked identity in one act.
THE ROOT
נִקְרָא
niqraʾ
GROWS FROM
קרא
qaraʾ
To call, proclaim, summon, or name.
The word translated “called” comes from קָרָא (qaraʾ, to call or proclaim), an act of voicing or invoking, not merely attaching a label. Paired with שֵׁם (shem, name and nature), it presents the ark as bearing the invoked identity of the One who dwells between the cherubim.
ALSO GROWS
qeriʾah: Reading or reciting aloud.
קְרִיאָה
The same root links naming with a voiced act: the name upon the ark is spoken, not merely displayed.
miqra: A gathering called together, or a public reading.
מִקְרָא
The root can summon a gathering as well as name something, echoing the shared movement of all Israel.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
dod
Beloved; a beloved one or kinsman.
David’s name carries דוד (dod, beloved), giving the leader a relational nature in the middle of this scene. The movement immediately widens beyond him: the beloved goes up with all Israel.
ALSO GROWS
dod: A beloved one or close relative.
דּוֹד
This is the root carried in David’s name, making the name itself part of the scene’s meaning.
dodi: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
The possessive form makes the root’s relational sense explicit; David’s name carries that same beloved nature.
וַיַּעַל
vayyaʿal
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿalah
To ascend or go up; in a causative form, to raise or bring up.
“went up / bring up” in this verse is vayyaʿal. Both “went up” and “bring up” draw on עלה (ʿalah, to ascend or raise), so the people’s ascent and the ark’s being brought up are one repeated movement. The carrying of the ark is part of the people’s own rising, not a detached errand.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaliyyah: An ascent or going up.
עֲלִיָּה
It names the upward movement shared by David, Israel, and the ark in this verse.
ʿolah: An offering that rises in smoke.
עֹלָה
Its name carries the same rising root, extending the verse’s upward movement into the language of offering.
THE PATTERN
The divine name marks the place or people bearing it as identified with God’s presence.
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.THE THREAD
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.Both verses use קָרָא (qaraʾ, to call or proclaim) with שֵׁם (shem, name and nature). Genesis shows people calling upon the LORD’s name; here, the LORD’s name is called upon the ark, marking the nature invoked over it.
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