What Does 1 Chronicles 22:16 Mean in the King James?
Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee.
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 materials are beyond counting, but abundance becomes a building only when someone rises and does the work.
THE MEANING
The resources before you exceed what can be tallied, yet the work still awaits your action. The LORD is with you as you rise and do it; presence accompanies the work without replacing your part in it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that having abundant resources means the work is already complete: even when provision is beyond counting, the work begins with rising and doing.
THE ROOT
קוּם
qûm
GROWS FROM
קום
Rise or stand; in related forms, raise or establish.
The root behind “Arise” also forms words for raising or establishing something and for a place to stand. The command carries the movement from standing up into making the prepared work stand.
ALSO GROWS
heqim: Raise up, set up, or establish
הֵקִים
This causative form of the same root links rising with establishing what is being built.
maqom: Place
מָקוֹם
This related word for a place carries the root’s sense of standing, giving “Arise” a concrete direction toward a place where the work can take shape.
וַעֲשֵׂה
va'asêh
GROWS FROM
עשה
Do or make.
The word translated “be doing” belongs to the same root family as words for a work or deed and for the one who makes. The verse joins rising to making: the prepared materials become a project through action.
ALSO GROWS
ma'aseh: Work or deed
מַעֲשֶׂה
This noun names the work that the command to do brings into being.
oseh: One who does or makes
עֹשֶׂה
The same root describes the maker, placing human action inside the verse’s abundant provision.
מִסְפָּר
mispār
GROWS FROM
ספר
Count or recount; in related uses, tell or record.
“Number” comes from a word family that also carries counting, recounting, and written account. The verse says the materials cannot be totaled, then turns from what can be counted to what must be done.
ALSO GROWS
saphar: Count, recount, or tell
סָפַר
The verb shows that “no number” belongs to a family concerned with both tallying and recounting.
sefer: Book or written record
סֵפֶר
This related word for a record extends the root’s counting and telling into something written down.
THE PATTERN
Prepared resources become purposeful work as people rise to act with the LORD’s presence beside them.
And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.THE THREAD
Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.“Rise up” comes from the same Hebrew root as “Arise” here. Nehemiah’s verse makes the movement visible: rising becomes shared building, and the hands are strengthened for the work.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us