What Does 2 Chronicles 6:6 Mean in the King James?
But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.
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
God chooses both the place that bears his name, his nature, and the ruler over his people, joining presence to authority.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you with a picture of choosing as placing: God’s name, his nature, is there, and David is set over Israel. Presence and authority are held together within the same choosing; neither is a self-made claim.
THE ROOT
וָאֶבְחַר
va’evḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
baḥar (בָּחַר): to choose, select.
“chosen” in this verse is va’evḥar. The verb is repeated for Jerusalem and David: the same act chooses a place for the name and a person to stand over the people. Its branches show choosing as distinguishing and selecting, not merely preferring.
ALSO GROWS
mivḥar: choice; the best selection
מִבְחָר
This branch names what is distinguished as the choice, bringing the root’s act of selecting into view.
nivḥar: chosen; selected
נִבְחָר
This passive form shows the one who is chosen as receiving a place through another’s choice.
דָּוִד
David
GROWS FROM
דוד
dōd (דּוֹד): beloved; also uncle or kinsman in related usage.
David’s name echoes the Hebrew word for beloved. Set beside the repeated choosing, the verse holds appointment together with belonging: the ruler’s name carries a nature of belovedness.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: beloved; also uncle or kinsman
דּוֹד
This noun shares the name’s consonants and carries its sense of intimate relation.
dōdîm: loves; caresses
דּוֹדִים
The plural form appears in love poetry and extends the same consonantal family into expressions of affection.
THE PATTERN
God’s choice places his name among a people and assigns people a role through which his nature is made visible.
But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:THE THREAD
He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:Psalm 78:70 uses the same Hebrew root בחר (baḥar, choose) and names David as the one chosen. It opens the repeated choosing here as one act that encompasses both the place bearing God’s name and the ruler over the people.
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