What Does 2 Chronicles 5:4 Mean in the King James?

And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark.

2 Chronicles 5:4 · 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.

THE KEY

The word for lifting the ark also forms the words for a burden and for a raised-up leader, so the verse’s center of gravity is carried, not merely approached.

THE MEANING

The elders arrive together, while the Levites bear what is central. The ark moves through particular hands: carrying is part of how this gathered community meets what it holds sacred.

THE ROOT

וַיִּשְׂאוּ

vayyis'u

GROWS FROM

נשא

to lift, carry, or bear

“took up” in this verse is vayyis'u. The verb for lifting the ark belongs to the same root as words for a burden and for a leader who is raised up. Hebrew lets carrying and elevation share one word-family, so the Levites’ service is not separate from the weight they bear.

ALSO GROWS

massa: a load or burden

מַשָּׂא

This branch names what carrying takes on; the ark’s movement is also the bearing of weight.

nasi: a leader or prince, one raised up

נָשִׂיא

The same root links being lifted up with bearing responsibility, illuminating the Levites’ role as the ark’s carriers.

THE PATTERN

What is weighty reaches its place through bodies that bear it.

Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.

1 Chronicles 15:2 · KJVThe same Hebrew root for carrying names the Levites’ appointed work and connects bearing the ark with service.

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2 · KJVHere the weight is another person’s burden, carried through shared care.

And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

John 19:17 · KJVThe cross moves forward through the body that bears it.

THE THREAD

Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.

1 Chronicles 15:2 · KJV

The Hebrew uses the same root, ⁨נשא⁩, for the Levites’ “carry” and for “took up” here. The companion verse makes explicit that bearing the ark is also their ministry.

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