What Does Nehemiah 8:11 Mean in the King James?
So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved.
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 day is set apart, so grief is present without being allowed to define the whole day.
THE MEANING
This verse meets the moment when truth stirs grief: the day remains set apart, and the people are hushed into that reality. Their pain is not erased, but it no longer has to name the whole day.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that when truth brings grief, grief must own the day.
THE ROOT
קָדוֹשׁ
qādôsh
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־שׁ
To set apart as sacred.
This root names what is set apart as sacred; its forms describe sacredness and a sanctuary, a space set apart. Calling the day holy places the time itself in a distinct category, so grief remains real without defining the day.
ALSO GROWS
qōdesh: That which is set apart as sacred.
קֹדֶשׁ
It places the verse’s word for holy within a family that names sacredness itself.
miqdāsh: A sanctuary, a place set apart.
מִקְדָּשׁ
A sanctuary is set apart in place; this verse applies the same root’s sense of distinction to a day.
תֵּעָצֵבוּ
teʿāṣēvû
GROWS FROM
ע־צ־ב
To hurt, cause pain, or grieve.
“grieved” in this verse is teʿāṣēvû. This root gathers inward grief and experienced pain into one word-family. The verse names sorrow as real pain while setting it beside a day whose meaning is larger than sorrow.
ALSO GROWS
ʿiṣṣāḇôn: Pain or painful toil.
עִצָּבוֹן
The shared root links grief with pain that is felt through effort and hardship.
ʿeṣeḇ: Sorrow or pain, as in “the bread of sorrows” (Psalm 127:2).
עֶצֶב
This branch makes clear that the grief in Nehemiah is an ache, not an abstract idea.
הַסּוּ
hassû
GROWS FROM
ה־ס־ה
To hush or be silent.
“Hold your peace” in this verse is hassû. The imperative is a spoken stop that quiets the crowd. A related hush precedes the day of the LORD in Zephaniah 1:7; here it stands beside a day declared set apart and a command not to remain in grief.
ALSO GROWS
hassû: A plural command to hush or be silent.
הַסּוּ
This is the form addressed to the gathered people in this verse; the hush is collective.
has: A short command to hush, as in Amos 6:10.
הַס
The same root forms a terse spoken interruption, showing that the quiet here is an active pause.
THE PATTERN
Grief can be real without being the final state of a day set apart for joy.
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.THE THREAD
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.The imperative translated “Hold thy peace” shares the root הָסָה (hāsāh, hush/be silent) with Nehemiah’s “Hold your peace.” Zephaniah joins that hush to “the day of the LORD,” while Nehemiah joins it to a day called holy; the repeated root makes silence a threshold for receiving the day.
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