What Does 2 Chronicles 29:31 Mean in the King James?
Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.
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
What the KJV calls consecration is literally “filling your hands” for the LORD: being set apart becomes something you carry toward God.
THE MEANING
Your consecration takes shape as hands filled for the LORD, followed by coming near and bringing something. The willing heart matters: burnt offerings rise from free giving, not mere obligation. Hezekiah’s name, חִזְקִיָּהוּ (Ḥizqiyyāhû, “YHWH strengthens”), puts the LORD’s strengthening in the voice that calls the people near.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being set apart is only an inward status, with nothing for your hands to carry or your willing heart to offer.
THE ROOT
מִלֵּאתֶם יֶדְכֶם
milletem yedkhem
GROWS FROM
מלא
to fill, make full
The phrase behind “consecrated yourselves” is literally “you have filled your hand(s) to the LORD.” Setting yourself apart is pictured as something concrete: your hands are made ready to carry what you bring near.
ALSO GROWS
millu’im: installation or consecration; literally, “fillings”
מִלּוּאִים
This branch links filling the hand with being set apart for service.
mālēʾ: full, filled
מָלֵא
The root’s sense of fullness gives consecration a tangible image: hands are occupied and ready.
גְּשׁוּ
geshu
GROWS FROM
נגשׁ
to approach, draw near
“come near” in this verse is geshu. The command to approach stands beside the command to bring offerings. A related causative form means “bring” or “present,” joining the person who draws near with what is placed before God.
ALSO GROWS
nigash: approached, drew near
נִגַּשׁ
It shows that nearness is a movement toward God.
higgish: brought forward, presented
הִגִּישׁ
This form makes the link between approaching and bringing something forward.
נְדִיב לֵב
nediv lev
GROWS FROM
נדב
to volunteer, offer freely
“free heart” in this verse is nediv lev. Nadiv carries willingness and generosity, not simply freedom from restraint. The burnt offerings come from hearts that volunteer, so the offering itself gives visible form to willing nearness.
ALSO GROWS
nadiv: willing, generous
נָדִיב
This is the word describing the people whose hearts freely bring offerings.
nedavah: freewill gift or offering
נְדָבָה
It makes the root’s movement from willingness to a freely given offering explicit.
THE PATTERN
Consecration takes shape as freely offered nearness, with the heart’s willingness made visible.
The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.The Hebrew behind “consecrate” shares the root מלא (mālēʾ, “fill”) with the filled-hand phrase in this verse. That shared root opens the image further: being set apart is pictured as hands made ready for what is brought to God.
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