What Does Nehemiah 10:34 Mean in the King James?

And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law:

Nehemiah 10:34 · 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 verse calls even the altar’s fuel a qorban, a drawing-near: the wood itself becomes an approach.

THE MEANING

This verse meets you in the idea that drawing near takes material form: even wood is named as a drawing-near, carried by people and households at appointed turns. The sacred is sustained through ordinary resources, shared labor, and time.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Drawing near to God is only an inward feeling, with no part in ordinary material life.

THE ROOT

קָרְבַּן

qorban

GROWS FROM

קרב

q-r-b

to approach, draw near, or be close

English “offering” can sound like an object transferred away; qorban carries the movement of drawing near. Here that nearness is concrete: the shared wood itself is brought to the altar, through turns assigned year by year.

ALSO GROWS

qarov: near, close

קָרוֹב

The same root names nearness itself, the movement carried by the offering.

hiqriv: to bring near; to present or offer

הִקְרִיב

This verb shows an offering as an act of bringing something near.

qerovim: relatives, close kin

קְרוֹבִים

The root also links closeness with kinship, extending the idea of nearness beyond distance.

THE PATTERN

Sacred continuity is sustained through recurring, shared material acts.

The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.

Exodus 35:29 · KJVThe community’s shared materials and willing contributions sustain the work of the sanctuary.

And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.

Leviticus 6:12 · KJVThe altar’s continuing fire depends on wood supplied and placed there in a repeated daily practice.

But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Hebrews 13:16 · KJVShared care and material generosity are described as sacrifices that please God.

THE THREAD

But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

Psalm 73:28 · KJV

The Hebrew word translated “offering” is qorban, from ⁨קרב⁩ (q-r-b), the root for drawing near. Psalm 73:28 uses the same root for “draw near to God,” revealing the wood offering as nearness made tangible.

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