What Does 2 Chronicles 6:18 Mean in the King James?
But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!
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
A place can host God’s presence without holding or containing God.
THE MEANING
This question meets the reader now: can God truly dwell with humanity on earth? The heavens themselves cannot contain God, so this house cannot enclose the divine presence; it can mark a place of encounter without holding its source.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a sacred building can contain God or place divine presence under human control.
THE ROOT
יֵשֵׁב
yeshev
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit down, settle, remain, or dwell.
The word translated “dwell” carries the image of sitting down and remaining. The verse holds that nearness together with limitlessness: God may dwell with people, yet no house can contain God.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: One who sits or dwells.
יֹשֵׁב
This branch gives “dwell with men” the texture of settled presence among people.
moshav: A seat or dwelling place.
מוֹשָׁב
A dwelling place can offer a setting for presence without becoming a container for the one who dwells.
hoshiv: To seat or settle someone.
הוֹשִׁיב
This causative form echoes the act of making a place for someone to sit, sharpening the distinction between welcoming presence and enclosing it.
THE PATTERN
Divine presence can dwell among people without being bounded by a place they build.
Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?Isaiah carries Solomon’s question further: if heaven is God’s throne and earth God’s footstool, no house can enclose God. The house can be a place of encounter within creation, while God exceeds both its walls and the heavens.
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