What Does 2 Chronicles 6:1 Mean in the King James?

Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

2 Chronicles 6:1 · 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 verse names thick darkness as the place where the LORD settles, so obscurity itself does not mean absence.

THE MEANING

What you cannot see through is not necessarily empty; this verse names even thick darkness as a dwelling place. The LORD’s presence is spoken of as settled there, beyond what sight can confirm.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that darkness proves God is absent.

THE ROOT

לִשְׁכֹּן

lishkon

GROWS FROM

שכן

sh-k-n

To settle, remain, dwell.

The verse uses ⁨לִשְׁכֹּן⁩ (lishkon), “to dwell” or “settle,” for the LORD’s presence in thick darkness. The same root appears in ⁨מִשְׁכָּן⁩ (mishkan), “dwelling place” or “tabernacle,” and ⁨שָׁכֵן⁩ (shakhen), “neighbor”, words that carry dwelling and nearness in their shared seed.

ALSO GROWS

mishkan: Dwelling place; tabernacle.

מִשְׁכָּן

The dwelling place shares the root used here for the LORD settling in thick darkness.

shakhen: Neighbor; one who dwells nearby.

שָׁכֵן

This branch carries the root’s sense of dwelling into nearness, opening the image of presence that settles close.

THE PATTERN

Divine presence is described as reaching into what remains hidden from human sight.

And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

Exodus 20:21 · KJVMoses draws near to the thick darkness, and the verse names God as present there.

He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Psalm 18:11 · KJVThe psalm places the divine presence within darkness and cloud, where it remains concealed from sight.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John 1:5 · KJVThe light shines within darkness, carrying presence into the very condition that cannot comprehend it.

THE THREAD

And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

Exodus 20:21 · KJV

The same Hebrew word, ⁨עֲרָפֶל⁩ (ʿărāpel), meaning “thick darkness,” appears in both verses. Moses approaches the obscurity the people keep at a distance, and the text names God as there: hiddenness is also a place of encounter.

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