What Does Nehemiah 13:31 Mean?
And for the drawing near of the wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.THE KEY
The prayer to be remembered for good follows the scheduling of provision and the giving of first yield: the work of upkeep is already part of drawing near.
THE MEANING
Your life with God includes the work that keeps shared worship supplied and in rhythm: wood, appointed times, and firstfruits. The speaker’s final request asks to be remembered for good, bringing practical service and the desire to be held in goodness into one sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that sacred faithfulness consists only of visible moments: this verse names supplies, timing, and first yield before asking to be remembered for good.
THE ROOT
זָכַר
zākhar
GROWS FROM
זכר
Z-K-R
To remember, call to mind, or mark in remembrance.
“Remember” in this verse is zākhar. The word family includes both remembrance and a memorial: what is remembered is held in view. The request asks that this life and its work be kept in God’s good regard, not merely recalled as a fact.
ALSO GROWS
zikkārôn: Remembrance or memorial
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial gives remembrance a lasting, visible form; the verse’s closing prayer asks for the speaker to be held in that kind of regard.
zēkher: Remembrance or memorial record
זֵכֶר
This branch makes remembrance something that remains on the record, resonating with the speaker’s request to be remembered for good.
קָרְבָּן
qorbān
GROWS FROM
קרב
Q-R-B
To approach or draw near.
“drawing near of the wood” in this verse is qorbān. The wood is part of a korban, from קרב (qarab, draw near). The word holds provision and nearness together: what is brought forward for shared worship also becomes a means of drawing near.
ALSO GROWS
qārav: To come near or draw near
קָרַב
This verb makes the offering’s movement explicit: it is brought near.
qārōv: Near or close
קָרוֹב
The related word for closeness shows how the offering belongs to a language of nearness, not only of material exchange.
בִּכּוּרִים
bikkûrîm
GROWS FROM
בכר
B-K-R
To be first or early; to bring forth first.
Firstfruits and firstborn share בכר (bakar), the language of what arrives first. The verse places the earliest yield into the pattern of drawing near: what comes first is recognized as a beginning, not treated as incidental surplus.
ALSO GROWS
bekhōr: Firstborn
בְּכוֹר
The firstborn shares the root with firstfruits, linking the earliest child and earliest yield as what comes first.
bikkūr: First ripe fruit or first yield
בִּכּוּר
This singular form makes clear that firstfruits are the earliest produce, the beginning offered from the harvest.
THE PATTERN
Work that sustains life with God is held in remembrance even when it looks ordinary.
For he does not slip for the ages; the aligned one is in remembrance of the ages.For God is not out of alignment to forget your work and the toil of love, which you have shown toward his nature, in that you have served the set-apart ones, and still serve.So then, my beloved brothers, be steady, unmoved, always overflowing in the work of the Lord, seeing that your toil is not empty in the Lord.THE THREAD
Remember the sabbath day, to set it apart.Exodus uses the same root זכר (zakar, remember): remembrance keeps a day in view through the way it is held and observed. Nehemiah closes by placing both scheduled provision and the speaker’s life in that same field of remembrance.
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