What Does 1 Chronicles 26:30 Mean in the King James?
And of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brethren, men of valour, a thousand and seven hundred, were officers among them of Israel on this side Jordan westward in all the business of the LORD, and in the service of the king.
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 verse places the LORD’s work and the king’s service within one field of entrusted responsibility.
THE MEANING
Your strength can become trusted capacity, placed into work that serves others. The verse holds the LORD’s work and service to the king within one life of responsibility, where devotion and public duty meet in actual labor.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that work devoted to God and work in public life belong in sealed-off parts of life: the verse names them together within one charge.
THE ROOT
עֲבֹדַת
ʿavodat
GROWS FROM
עבד
To serve, work, or labor.
עֲבֹדָה (ʿavodah, service or work) comes from עבד (ʿavad, serve or work), a root that joins a person’s service with the labor they perform. The verse uses it for service to the king, placing public work beside the LORD’s work within one field of responsibility.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: Servant
עֶבֶד
This branch makes service a lived role, not just an abstract duty.
ʿavodah: Work, labor, or service
עֲבֹדָה
Its range keeps the king’s service connected to practical work.
פְּקִידִים
peqidim
GROWS FROM
פקד
To attend to, appoint, muster, or visit.
The officers are called פְּקִידִים (peqidim), from פקד (paqad), a root whose range includes attending to a charge and appointing or mustering people. Alongside the sense of rank, the word carries the work of being assigned to attend to what has been entrusted.
ALSO GROWS
paqīd: Officer or overseer
פָּקִיד
The singular form names the person appointed to attend to a responsibility.
paqad: Attend to, appoint, or muster
פָּקַד
The verb reveals the active work beneath the title: attending to people and their charge.
חַיִל
ḥayil
GROWS FROM
חיל
Strength, capacity, or force; also valor, wealth, or military force.
“valour” in this verse is ḥayil. The phrase בְּנֵי־חַיִל (benei ḥayil, people of strength or capability) can name more than combat courage: the same word appears in descriptions of strength and capability across different kinds of life. Here, that capacity is placed in service to a people and its shared work.
ALSO GROWS
ʾeshet ḥayil: Woman of strength or valor
אֵשֶׁת חַיִל
Proverbs uses the same word for a woman’s capability, showing that ḥayil is not limited to a warrior’s courage.
ḥayyāl: Soldier
חַיָּל
This related form shows the root’s connection to organized force and capacity.
THE PATTERN
Strength and entrusted gifts take shape as service within a larger shared good.
Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.THE THREAD
Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:Exodus uses the same phrase בְּנֵי־חַיִל (benei ḥayil, able or capable people) for those appointed to carry responsibility. Here, that capacity is entrusted with both the LORD’s work and the king’s service; in both verses, strength takes form as a defined charge.
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