What Does 2 Chronicles 30:17 Mean in the King James?
For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the LORD.
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 people’s uncleanness does not remove them from the Passover; it becomes the occasion for the Levites to carry the work of consecration for them.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to a person who is not yet ready: uncleanness is named plainly, but it does not erase their place among the gathered people. The Levites carry the Passover slaughter for them, and that service moves them toward being set apart to the LORD. Belonging and readiness are not treated as the same condition.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You must already be clean and set apart before you can draw near to God. Here, the work of consecration begins while the people still need help.
THE ROOT
הִתְקַדְּשׁוּ
hitqaddeshu
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; consecrate.
“sanctified” in this verse is hitqaddeshu. The same root appears in the Levites’ charge to consecrate others, so set-apartness is also work the community performs on behalf of those not yet prepared. The word reaches beyond a status to the act that brings someone into that status.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; holy.
קָדוֹשׁ
The people are being directed toward the same set-apart condition named by this branch.
miqdash: Sanctuary; set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The same root names both a sacred place and the act of consecrating people to the LORD.
טָהוֹר
tahor
GROWS FROM
טהר
t-h-r
Be clean or pure.
“clean” in this verse is tahor. The Hebrew keeps cleanness distinct from consecration: uncleanness names the condition, while the separate root q-d-sh names the movement toward being set apart to the LORD. The Levites’ service does not erase the condition; it carries the people forward despite it.
ALSO GROWS
taher: Be clean; purify.
טָהֵר
The verb makes cleanness a condition that can be entered through purification.
taharah: Purity; purification.
טָהֳרָה
This branch names the condition or process the people still need, while the verse shows the community helping them approach it.
THE PATTERN
Readiness is not a private threshold for belonging; those who are unready remain within reach of communal provision.
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.THE THREAD
For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every oneThe same Hebrew root for “clean” appears here: the people have not purified themselves, yet they eat the Passover. This verse makes plain that their uncleanness is not hidden or denied; the Levites’ service helps carry them into the meal while Hezekiah prays for them.
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