What Does Nehemiah 10:38 Mean in the King James?
And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.
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 tithe does not stop with its receiver: even the Levites lift a measured tenth of what they receive into the house.
THE MEANING
Receiving is not the final point of the provision’s movement. The Levites receive tithes, then carry a measured tenth into the house of God and its treasury. The priest stands with them, and the share has a named destination.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that those who receive or distribute provision are exempt from its onward movement.
THE ROOT
מַעֲשֵׂר
maʿaser
GROWS FROM
עשר
Ten; the number ten and the basis of a tenth.
Maʿaser is built from the word for ten: a tithe is literally a tenth. “The tithe of the tithes” makes a measured share within a measured share visible; receiving the tithe does not make the Levites its final stop.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeser: Ten
עֶשֶׂר
The tithe word carries the number in its own construction: this is one part in ten.
ʿasiri: Tenth in a counted order
עֲשִׂירִי
The same root can mark a position in a sequence as well as the measured portion.
וְהֶעֱלוּ
veheʿelu
GROWS FROM
עלה
Ascend, go up; in this verb form, cause to go up or bring up.
The verb translated “bring up” carries the sense of ascent: the tithe is carried upward into the house and its chambers. The same root appears in עֹלָה (ʿolah), an offering that goes up, keeping the movement inside the word visible.
ALSO GROWS
ʿolah: Burnt offering; an offering that ascends
עֹלָה
It shares the root’s upward movement, like the tithe being brought into the house.
ʿaliyah: Ascent, going up
עֲלִיָּה
It preserves the root’s plain sense of movement upward.
THE PATTERN
Provision moves through measured shares, turning what one receives into supply for a wider whole.
Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:THE THREAD
Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.Both verses use מַעֲשֵׂר (maʿaser, tenth or tithe), from עשר (ʿasar, ten). Numbers makes the measure explicit: even the Levites’ received portion includes a tenth that moves onward.
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