What Does 1 Chronicles 16:31 Mean in the King James?
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth.
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 heavens and earth do not merely celebrate the LORD’s reign; their joy becomes the message spoken among the nations.
THE MEANING
The heavens and earth answer the LORD’s kingship with gladness. That joy becomes speech among the nations: the LORD reigns. Creation’s response and the public announcement belong to the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the nations’ powers have the final claim over the world: the LORD is king over the whole scene.
THE ROOT
מָלַךְ
mālak
GROWS FROM
מלך
m-l-k
to reign, be king
“reigneth” in this verse is mālak. The Hebrew declaration joins reigning to the word for king: YHWH is king. The nations hear a claim about who rules the whole scene, not an abstract idea of authority.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: king
מֶלֶךְ
The root links the act of reigning with the king himself.
malkhūt: kingship, kingdom
מַלְכוּת
This branch shows how the same root names the realm or rule that belongs to the king.
יִשְׂמְחוּ
yismeḥu
GROWS FROM
שמח
š-m-ḥ
to be glad, rejoice
“glad” in this verse is yismeḥu. Heavens are the subject of this gladness, so joy belongs to the created order, not only to individual people. The root also names joy itself, giving the verse a shared response rather than a passing mood.
ALSO GROWS
simḥāh: joy, gladness
שִׂמְחָה
The noun form makes explicit the joy carried by the heavens’ response.
sāmēaḥ: glad, joyful
שָׂמֵחַ
This form carries the same quality of gladness that the verse gives to the heavens.
וְתָגֵל
ve-tāgēl
GROWS FROM
גיל
g-y-l
to exult, rejoice
“rejoice” in this verse is ve-tāgēl. The earth’s rejoicing comes from a distinct root than the heavens’ gladness. English makes them sound like simple synonyms; Hebrew lets two different expressions of joy answer the announcement side by side.
ALSO GROWS
gīl: rejoicing, exultation
גִּיל
This noun names the exultant quality carried by the earth’s response.
gīlāh: jubilation, rejoicing
גִּילָה
This related form keeps the root’s sense of an expressed burst of joy.
THE PATTERN
The announcement of the LORD’s kingship draws creation into joy and carries that claim into public hearing.
The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.THE THREAD
The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.Psalm 97:1 repeats the same Hebrew declaration, יהוה מלך, “YHWH is king,” and joins it to the earth’s rejoicing. The shared מלך root makes kingship and creation’s gladness part of one scene.
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