What Does 2 Chronicles 7:5 Mean in the King James?
And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
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 Hebrew word for dedication also means initiation, so the house’s consecration is its entry into a purpose.
THE MEANING
The house enters its purpose through a vast offering and the shared act of the king and all the people. Dedication is a beginning carried by the whole community.
THE ROOT
וַיַּחֲנְכוּ
wayyaḥănĕḵû
GROWS FROM
חנך
to initiate, inaugurate, dedicate, or train
“dedicated” in this verse is wayyaḥănĕḵû. חנך carries dedication and initiation together: an act that begins a thing in its use. The same seed names the formation of a child, linking the house’s inauguration with a life being initiated into a way.
ALSO GROWS
ḥănukkāh: dedication, inauguration
חֲנֻכָּה
The same root names a dedication as a beginning that ushers something into its purpose.
ḥănōkh: initiate, train up (Proverbs 22:6)
חֲנֹךְ
The root also describes forming a child into a way, connecting the house’s initiation with the shaping of a life.
זֶבַח
zevaḥ
GROWS FROM
זבח
to slaughter or offer as a sacrifice
“sacrifice” in this verse is zevaḥ. The offering is bound to slaughter in the verb itself, while מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbēaḥ, altar) names the place of that act. The immense number of animals makes the house’s dedication visible in an act of costly giving.
ALSO GROWS
zāvaḥ: slaughter, offer as a sacrifice
זָבַח
The verb makes the sacrifice an enacted offering, not an abstract gesture.
mizbēaḥ: altar, place of sacrifice
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar’s name shares the offering’s root, joining the act of sacrifice to the place where it happens.
THE PATTERN
A person or place is initiated into its purpose through a decisive beginning of formation or offering.
And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.THE THREAD
And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.Both verses use חנך (ḥānaḵ, initiate or dedicate), a root that carries the sense of beginning a house in its use. Here the whole people dedicate God’s house; in Deuteronomy, a new home’s dedication marks a threshold in its builder’s life.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us