What Does 1 Chronicles 15:1 Mean in the King James?

And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.
1 Chronicles 15:1 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

A place can be firmly prepared for the ark while its covering is still a tent.

The beloved makes a place for God’s ark and stretches a tent over it. You can see something made ready to hold what is sacred without being enclosed in a permanent form. The place is prepared; the covering remains a tent.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

God’s presence requires a finished, permanent dwelling.

מָקוֹם

maqom

GROWS FROM

קום

To rise, stand, or be established.

English “place” sounds like a location; maqom carries the sense of a standing-place, from qum (⁨קום⁩), “to rise or stand.” The ark is given ground prepared to bear what it holds.

ALSO GROWS

qum: Rise or stand

קוּם

The place is a standing-place: space prepared to hold the ark.

heqim: Raise up or establish

הֵקִים

The same root can describe making something stand, giving “place” a sense of established ground.

וַיָּכֶן

vayyakhen

GROWS FROM

כון

To be firm, stable, or established.

“Prepared” carries the force of making firm or setting in place. The verse locates stability in the prepared space, even while the ark’s covering remains a tent.

ALSO GROWS

kun: Be firm, stable, or established

כּוּן

This root gives “prepared” the sense of making a space firm enough to receive the ark.

hekin: Prepare or make ready

הֵכִין

This related form shows preparation as establishing what is ready to be used.

דָּוִד

Dawid

GROWS FROM

דוד

Beloved.

David’s name carries belovedness into the scene: the beloved makes homes and prepares a place for the ark. The name and the act meet in the work of making room.

ALSO GROWS

dod: Beloved or kinsman

דּוֹד

This word carries the belovedness heard in David’s name.

dodim: Loves or caresses

דּוֹדִים

This related form expresses love as a lived bond, echoing the name’s relational nature.

A place is made ready for God’s dwelling even when its covering remains a tent.

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
Exodus 25:8 · KJVThe sanctuary is made so that God may dwell among the people.
That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.
2 Samuel 7:2 · KJVA settled house and the ark’s curtained dwelling occupy the same frame.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 · KJVThe Word dwells among people, carrying the tent’s image of presence into human life.
Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
Psalm 132:5 · KJV

“Place” here is ⁨מָקוֹם⁩ (maqom), the same Hebrew word used in 1 Chronicles 15:1, from ⁨קום⁩ (qum), “to rise or stand.” This verse makes explicit the search compressed into the prepared place: finding a dwelling for the LORD.

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1 Chronicles 15:1 KJV Meaning