What Does 1 Chronicles 15:27 Mean in the King James?
And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen.
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 Hebrew word translated “bare” holds lifting and carrying together: the ark’s sacredness is something bodies actually bear.
THE MEANING
The holy is visible in bodies: Levites carry the ark, singers give voice to the procession, and David wears linen and an ephod within it. Sacred life moves through carrying, clothing, and sound. David’s name carries the nature of the beloved, placed here within that visible participation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that devotion is only inward: here carrying, clothing, and song give it a visible form.
THE ROOT
הַנֹּשְׂאִים
hannōśəʾîm
GROWS FROM
נשא
nāśāʾ
To lift, carry, or bear
“bare” in this verse is hannōśəʾîm. The Levites’ verb is nasa, which holds lifting and carrying in one word; a related noun, massa, names a burden. The verse places the bearers’ bodies at the center of the ark’s movement.
ALSO GROWS
massa: Burden, load
מַשָּׂא
The related word for a burden makes the act of bearing tangible: what is carried has weight.
nasi: Prince, leader; one raised up
נָשִׂיא
This branch links being lifted up with leadership, a striking echo in a verse that places David among the carriers and singers.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; the related kinship word can also mean uncle
David’s name carries the nature of the beloved into this scene. He appears not apart from the procession, but within its visible movement of carrying and song.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved; uncle
דּוֹד
This is the word-seed carried in David’s name, placing belovedness at the center of the scene.
dōdîm: Loves, caresses
דּוֹדִים
This plural branch carries the root into expressed affection, adding tenderness to the name’s nature.
THE PATTERN
The holy becomes visible through bodies that carry, move, and voice it.
And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.THE THREAD
And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.There, the same root nasa describes Aaron bearing Israel’s names on the ephod’s shoulders; here, it names the Levites bearing the ark while David wears a linen ephod. The shared root makes carrying a bodily act of holding what is sacred before God.
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