What Does 1 Chronicles 21:8 Mean in the King James?
And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
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
David asks God to make his guilt pass away: confession moves from naming the miss to asking for release.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the reader where an action is admitted plainly: “I have sinned greatly.” David’s name, דָּוִד (Dāwîd, “beloved”), carries belovedness into that confession; the beloved names a real failure and asks for its crookedness to be taken away. The plea holds responsibility and release together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being beloved requires hiding failure: belovedness and direct confession stand together in the same sentence.
THE ROOT
חָטָאתִי
ḥāṭāʾtî
GROWS FROM
חטא
to miss, err, or fail
English “sinned” can sound like a settled moral category. The Hebrew verb חָטָאתִי names a miss or failure, and its first-person form makes the confession direct: I missed, I failed.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: to miss, err, or sin
חָטָא
This verb shares the root and makes the confession an admission of an act, not a label imposed from outside.
ḥaṭṭāʾt: sin; also a sin offering
חַטָּאת
The same root can name both the failure and an offering associated with it, keeping the miss connected to what addresses it.
ḥōṭēʾ: one who sins or misses
חוֹטֵא
The root can describe a person as well as an act, while David’s wording centers the act he himself has done.
הַעֲבֵר
haʿăvēr
GROWS FROM
עבר
to pass over, cross, or go beyond
The Hebrew plea asks God to make the iniquity pass away. The root turns “do away” into movement: guilt is named as something that can be carried out of the way.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: to pass over or cross
עָבַר
This is the verb at the root of David’s request: he asks for the guilt to pass.
ʿēver: the other side, beyond, or across
עֵבֶר
This related form carries the sense of crossing to what lies beyond, echoing the movement in the plea.
נִסְכַּלְתִּי
niskáltî
GROWS FROM
סכל
to act foolishly or without sound judgment
“foolishly” in this verse is niskáltî. The verse closes with a second kind of naming: alongside the miss, David recognizes the folly in his action. The confession holds both the deed and the poor judgment that shaped it.
ALSO GROWS
sākāl: foolish, lacking sound judgment
סָכָל
The adjective shares the root and names the quality David recognizes in his act.
siklût: folly or foolishness
סִכְלוּת
This noun makes the folly itself visible as part of what David is confessing.
THE PATTERN
When the miss is brought into the open, the next movement is release and cleansing.
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.THE THREAD
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.Both verses use עָוֹן (ʿāwōn, “crookedness” or “guilt”): here David asks for it to pass away, and there he names it openly and receives forgiveness. The shared word connects the request for release with the moment guilt is no longer hidden.
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