What Does 2 Chronicles 29:23 Mean in the King James?
And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:
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 offering for what is missing is brought into shared, bodily contact before the king and the whole congregation.
THE MEANING
The missing is brought into the open before the king and the whole congregation. Their hands rest on the offering, making the encounter bodily and shared rather than hidden or abstract.
THE ROOT
חַטָּאת
chatta't
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
To miss, fail, or go wrong.
“sin offering” in this verse is chatta't. The offering’s Hebrew name comes from the same root as the verb “to miss.” The word keeps the missing and the offering connected, while the verse brings that missing before the king and congregation.
ALSO GROWS
chata: To miss or fail.
חָטָא
This verb shares the seed of the offering’s name, linking the act of missing with what is brought forward here.
chet: A missing or failure.
חֵטְא
This noun makes visible the same root idea carried in “sin offering”: the missing is named and brought into the open.
וַיִּסְמְכוּ
vayyismekhu
GROWS FROM
סמך
s-m-k
To lean or rest upon; to support or uphold.
“laid their hands” in this verse is vayyismekhu. The verb for laying hands comes from a root of leaning and support. The same root describes being upheld, so the gesture carries more than touch: it suggests resting upon or supporting what stands beneath the hands.
ALSO GROWS
somekh: Supporting or upholding.
סוֹמֵךְ
Psalm 37:24 uses this form for the LORD upholding someone who falls, revealing the support held within this root.
semikhah: Laying on of hands; ordination or appointment.
סְמִיכָה
This related word preserves the root’s connection between hands resting upon someone and a recognized act of support or setting in place.
THE PATTERN
A hand laid on another body gives visible form to a relation of offering, naming, or imparting.
And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD: it is a sin offering.And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.THE THREAD
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.The Hebrew verb translated “laid” here comes from סמך, the root behind “upholdeth” in this verse. The same root joins hands resting on the offering with the LORD’s hand supporting one who falls.
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