What Does 1 Chronicles 9:13 Mean in the King James?

And their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand and seven hundred and threescore; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.

1 Chronicles 9:13 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse counts strength by what it can serve: the Hebrew word for service also carries the sense of labor.

THE MEANING

The verse places strength within a community, expressed through work that serves the house of God. In your life now, capacity becomes visible in the work that sustains what is shared and set apart.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The assumption that sacred service and practical labor are separate dissolves here: the verse names the labor itself as service.

THE ROOT

עֲבֹדָה

avodah

GROWS FROM

עבד

to work, labor, or serve

The noun for service comes from the same root as words for working and serving; Hebrew holds the labor and the service it performs together. In “the work of the service,” capable people sustain the house through their labor.

ALSO GROWS

avad: to work or serve

עָבַד

This verb shows the action held within the verse’s word for service.

eved: servant or worker

עֶבֶד

This noun names one who serves, linking the person’s role to the labor described in the verse.

THE PATTERN

Capacity becomes meaningful as service that sustains shared life.

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15 · KJVThe garden is tended through work that shares the same Hebrew root, ⁨עבד⁩ (avad), as service in the verse.

And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

Exodus 3:12 · KJVThe people’s service is expressed through what they do together in the presence of God.

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1 Peter 4:10 · KJVWhat each person receives becomes service that supports the shared life of others.

THE THREAD

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15 · KJV

“To dress it” uses ⁨עבד⁩ (avad), the same root behind ⁨עֲבֹדָה⁩ (avodah), “service,” in this verse. The garden’s tending and the house’s service share one root: labor that cares for a dwelling.

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