What Does 2 Chronicles 6:13 Mean in the King James?

For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven,

2 Chronicles 6:13 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for kneeling shares its root with “bless,” so Solomon’s body bends into the blessing his prayer is about to voice.

THE MEANING

Prayer takes shape in the body: knees bend while hands open toward heaven. The posture holds lowering and reaching together, in full view of the gathered people.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Prayer is purely inward, with no part for the body or the gathered community.

THE ROOT

וַיִּבְרַךְ

wayyivrek from barak

GROWS FROM

ברך

To bend or kneel; in another form, to bless.

The verb translated “kneeled” and the following word for “knees” repeat the root ⁨ברך⁩, which also gives “blessing.” Hebrew holds the body’s bending and the prayer’s blessing together in one root.

ALSO GROWS

birkav: his knees

בִּרְכָּיו

The noun for Solomon’s knees repeats the root in the verb translated “kneeled,” making the bodily action explicit.

berakhah: blessing

בְּרָכָה

This branch from the same root links bending the knee with blessing.

THE PATTERN

Prayer becomes visible through the body’s lowering and opening.

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

Psalm 95:6 · KJVThe verse gives prayer a bodily form through bowing and kneeling before the LORD.

I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

1 Timothy 2:8 · KJVPrayer reaches upward through lifted hands, joining the body’s posture to its words.

THE THREAD

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Genesis 12:2 · KJV

The Hebrew verb translated “bless” here comes from the same root, ⁨ברך⁩, as the word translated “kneeled” in 2 Chronicles 6:13. The shared root draws blessing and the bent knee into one image.

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