The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible — 2 Chronicles 31:3

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2 Chronicles 31:3–10 — Contributions for Worship. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The king gave the victims for the sacrifices prescribed in Numbers 28, 29, out of his own revenues.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Which had hitherto been taken out of the treasures of the temple; but that he might ease the people in their present poverty, which his predecessor had brought upon them, and engage them to a more cheerful attendance upon God’s service, he took the burden upon himself.

Benson and Poole give nearly identical wording here; Poole (1685) is the earlier, so this reading is almost certainly inherited rather than independently reached.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

Hezekiah revived it; and, to encourage the people to give what was due, cheerfully set the example of paying the full proportion from his own considerable possessions

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The king contributed from his own possessions for the regular morning and evening burnt offerings and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts, as written in the Law of the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ ū·mə·nāṯ min- rə·ḵū·šōw hab·bō·qer wə·hā·‘e·reḇ wə·hā·‘ō·lō·wṯ lā·‘ō·lō·wṯ lə·‘ō·lō·wṯ laš·šab·bā·ṯō·wṯ wə·le·ḥo·ḏā·šîm wə·lam·mō·‘ă·ḏîm kak·kā·ṯūḇ bə·ṯō·w·raṯ Yah·weh

Word by word15 · parsed

הַמֶּ֨לֶךְham·me·leḵThe kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

melek: a king Definite and unqualified: the office, not the name, opens the sentence.

וּמְנָת֩ū·mə·nāṯcontributedH4521

√ mᵉnâth — an allotment (by courtesy, law or providence)Conjunctive wawNounfeminine singular construct

mᵉnâth: an allotment (by courtesy, law or providence) A rare noun (8 verses) for a share that is assigned rather than volunteered. The same word returns in the very next verse as what the people owe the priests, so the verse sets king and commoner under one vocabulary of obligation: he pays his mᵉnâth before he asks for theirs. Barnes reads the sequence as deliberate example-setting; JFB says it belonged to the king by office to defray the altar's expense.

מִן־min-fromH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

רְכוּשׁ֜וֹrə·ḵū·šōwhis own possessionsH7399

√ rᵉkûwsh — property (as gathered)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

rᵉkûwsh: property (as gathered) Wealth as accumulated substance. Benson and Poole agree the burden had previously fallen on the temple treasury and on collections from the people, and that Hezekiah shouldered it himself because the land was impoverished by his predecessor. Barnes counts the annual bill this covered: nearly 1,100 lambs, 113 bullocks, 37 rams and 30 goats, with flour, oil and wine for the accompanying offerings.

הַבֹּ֣קֶרhab·bō·qerfor the regular morningH1242

√ bôqer — properly, dawn (as the break of day)ArticleNounmasculine singular

וְהָעֶ֔רֶבwə·hā·‘e·reḇand eveningH6153

√ ʻereb — duskConjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine singular

וְהָ֣עֹל֔וֹתwə·hā·‘ō·lō·wṯ. . .H5930

√ ʻôlâh — a step or (collectively, stairs, as ascending)Conjunctive waw, ArticleNounfeminine plural

לָעֹל֗וֹתlā·‘ō·lō·wṯburnt offeringsH5930

√ ʻôlâh — a step or (collectively, stairs, as ascending)Preposition-l, ArticleNounfeminine plural

ʻôlâh: a step or (collectively, stairs, as ascending) The whole-burnt offering, named from ascent: the whole victim goes up in smoke and nothing returns to the offerer. That is why it is the fitting sacrifice for a royal purse to fund, since no part of it comes back as food. Note the contrast this sets up with verse 10, where what the people bring does come back as food for the priests.

לְעֹלוֹת֙lə·‘ō·lō·wṯand for the burnt offeringsH5930

√ ʻôlâh — a step or (collectively, stairs, as ascending)Preposition-lNounfeminine plural construct

לַשַּׁבָּת֖וֹתlaš·šab·bā·ṯō·wṯon the SabbathsH7676

√ shabbâth — intermission, iPreposition-l, ArticleNouncommon plural

shabbâth: intermission Plural: the recurring rest days, each with its own added offering. The word's root sense is cessation, so the Sabbath pile of offerings is the paradox of work done for the day of no work.

וְלֶחֳדָשִׁ֣יםwə·le·ḥo·ḏā·šîmNew MoonsH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonConjunctive waw, Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine plural

וְלַמֹּעֲדִ֑יםwə·lam·mō·‘ă·ḏîmand appointed feastsH4150

√ môwʻêd — properly, an appointment, iConjunctive waw, Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine plural

môwʻêd: properly, an appointment An appointed time or meeting, hence a fixed festival. Ellicott identifies these as the three great pilgrim feasts of Numbers 28 and 29. The plural stacks with sabbaths and new moons into a full calendar: daily, weekly, monthly, annual. Hezekiah is not funding a revival event, he is funding a clock.

כַּכָּת֖וּבkak·kā·ṯūḇas writtenH3789

√ kâthab — to grave, by implication, to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe)Preposition-k, ArticleVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular

kâthab: to grave, by implication, to write Qal passive participle: "the written." The king's giving is measured against a text, not against his own generosity. This is the Chronicler's constant control on reform: the standard is documentary and checkable.

בְּתוֹרַ֥תbə·ṯō·w·raṯin the LawH8451

√ tôwrâh — a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or PentateuchPreposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

tôwrâh: a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch Construct with YHWH: the instruction that belongs to Him. tôwrâh appears twice in these two verses (31:3 and 31:4) and both times as the measure: first of the king's outlay, then of the priests' vocation.

יְהוָֽה׃Yah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-the-portion of-the-king from-his-possessions for-the-burnt-offerings: the-burnt-offerings of-the-morning and-the-evening, and-the-burnt-offerings for-the-sabbaths and-for-the-new-moons and-for-the-appointed-times, as-the-thing-written in-the-law of-YHWH.

Where the English smooths the original

וּמְנָת֩ וּמְנָת֩ (ū·mə·nāṯ, H4521 mᵉnâth, feminine singular construct) is a noun, not a verb. The clause has no finite verb at all: literally "and the portion of the king, from his property, was for the burnt offerings." BSB's "contributed" supplies a verb the Hebrew withholds. Ellicott restores the nominal shape: "And the king's portion," and K&D reads it the same way. Strong's glosses mᵉnâth as "an allotment (by courtesy, law or providence)": it is a measured share, not a spontaneous gift, and it occurs in only 8 verses.
רְכוּשׁ֜וֹ רְכוּשׁ֜וֹ (rə·ḵū·šōw, H7399 rᵉkûwsh) is "property as gathered," movable accumulated wealth, with the third masculine singular suffix. "His own possessions" is fair, but the word carries the sense of a hoard that took gathering; Barnes and Ellicott both send the reader to 2 Chronicles 32:27-29 for the inventory of exactly this rᵉkûwsh. The point of the Hebrew word order is that the outlay came off the king's own gathered estate, not off the temple treasury.
לָעֹל֗וֹת The English shows "burnt offerings" twice, but עֹלָה (H5930 ʻôlâh) stands three times in a row in the Hebrew (indices 6, 7, 8), each time with a different preposition or article: the absolute plural, then l plus article, then a bare construct. The repetition is the structure of the verse (daily, then calendrical), and the root means "a step, that which ascends": the offering is named for its going up, not for its burning.
כַּכָּת֖וּב כַּכָּת֖וּב (kak·kā·ṯūḇ, H3789 kâthab, Qal passive participle with preposition k and the article) is "according to the written thing," a participle turned into a noun. "As written" reads like a loose comparison; the Hebrew points to a fixed document. Gill names Numbers 28:9, Ellicott and K&D name Numbers 28 and 29, and Pulpit adds Leviticus 23.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Rather, that they might stick fast unto the law. For this use of c hādzaq, comp. 2Samuel 18:9 , “his head stuck fast in the terebinth.

Ellicott's lexical parallel is the strongest philological observation in the whole apparatus for this unit: the verb is the one used of Absalom caught in the tree.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

that they might hold themselves firmly to the law of Jahve, i.e., might devote themselves to the duties laid upon them by the law, the attendance upon the worship, without being compelled to labour for their subsistence

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

That their minds might not be entangled with provision of worldly things, but that they might wholly and cheerfully serve the Lord.

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

When they had tasted the sweetness of God's ordinance in the late passover, they were free in maintaining the temple service. Those who enjoy the benefit of a settled ministry, will not grudge the expense of it.

Henry's entry in the brief is a single note covering the whole of 31:1-21, so it comments on the chapter's arc rather than on this verse's grammar.

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Moreover, he commanded the people living in Jerusalem to make a contribution for the priests and Levites so that they could devote themselves to the Law of the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yō·mer lā·‘ām lə·yō·wō·šə·ḇê yə·rū·šā·lim lā·ṯêṯ mə·nāṯ hak·kō·hă·nîm wə·hal·wî·yim lə·ma·‘an ye·ḥez·qū bə·ṯō·w·raṯ Yah·weh

Word by word12 · parsed

וַיֹּ֤אמֶרway·yō·merMoreover, he commandedH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ʼâmar: to say (used with great latitude) Consecutive imperfect. BSB's "commanded" is interpretive: the Hebrew only says he spoke. JFB notes it took a royal mandate at all, which implies the dues had been neglected or evaded.

לָעָם֙lā·‘āmthe peopleH5971

√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

לְיוֹשְׁבֵ֣יlə·yō·wō·šə·ḇêlivingH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgePreposition-lVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct

יְרוּשָׁלִַ֔םyə·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestineNounproperfeminine singular

לָתֵ֕תlā·ṯêṯto makeH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

מְנָ֥תmə·nāṯa contributionH4521

√ mᵉnâth — an allotment (by courtesy, law or providence)Nounfeminine singular construct

mᵉnâth: an allotment The hinge of the whole reform. Priests and Levites hold no farmland; the Chronicler's point is that a tribe set apart for worship is structurally dependent on the obedience of the other tribes. Nehemiah 13:10 records the same system collapsing, with the Levites fleeing to their fields, and Ellicott cites that verse here.

הַכֹּהֲנִ֖יםhak·kō·hă·nîmfor the priestsH3548

√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural

kôhên: literally one officiating, a priest Definite plural. Named before the Levites and paired with them throughout this unit; verse 9 has Hezekiah interrogating exactly this pair, and verse 10 has their chief answer for them.

וְהַלְוִיִּ֑םwə·hal·wî·yimand LevitesH3881

√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine plural

Lêvîyîy: a Levite or descendant of Levi The wider order, supported by tithe rather than firstfruits; K&D distinguishes the two revenue streams from Numbers 18.

לְמַ֥עַןlə·ma·‘anso thatH4616

√ maʻan — properly, heed, iConjunction

יֶחֶזְק֖וּye·ḥez·qūthey could devote themselvesH2388

√ châzaq — to fasten uponVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural

châzaq: to fasten upon The theological pivot of the verse. The purpose clause makes material provision the servant of vocation: pay them, so they can grip the tôwrâh with both hands. Geneva puts the negative side of it, that their minds not be entangled with provision of worldly things. The verb is the one used for strengthening hands and for holding a thing so tightly it cannot be pried loose, which is a striking thing to ask of a man's relation to a text.

בְּתוֹרַ֥תbə·ṯō·w·raṯto the LawH8451

√ tôwrâh — a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or PentateuchPreposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

tôwrâh: a precept or statute The object of the grip. In one verse the law is both what obliges the people to give and what the recipients are freed to hold; the economy and the vocation are the same instruction seen from two ends.

יְהוָֽה׃Yah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-said to-the-people, to-the-dwellers-of Jerusalem, to-give the-portion of-the-priests and-the-Levites, so-that they-may-hold-fast in-the-law of-YHWH.

Where the English smooths the original

יֶחֶזְק֖וּ יֶחֶזְק֖וּ (ye·ḥez·qū, H2388 châzaq, Qal imperfect third masculine plural) is "be strong, take firm hold," from a root Strong's glosses "to fasten upon." BSB's "devote themselves" is the right effect but loses the grip. Ellicott is blunt about it: "that they might stick fast unto the law," and points to 2 Samuel 18:9 where the same verb describes Absalom's head stuck fast in the terebinth. Cambridge notes the Revised Version's "give themselves to." K&D: "that they might hold themselves firmly to the law of Jahve."
מְנָ֥ת מְנָ֥ת (mə·nāṯ, H4521) is the same rare noun as 31:3, here in construct with the priests and Levites: "the portion of the priests." "A contribution" makes it sound discretionary; the genitive makes it theirs, an allotment already assigned by law. Ellicott lists the statutes behind it (Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 27:30-33; Numbers 18:12, 20-24), and K&D the same. The king is not soliciting charity; he is ordering payment of a debt.
לָעָם֙ לְיוֹשְׁבֵ֣י The Hebrew repeats the preposition l: "to the people, to the dwellers of Jerusalem," an apposition that narrows the addressee. Ellicott catches it: "And he said to the people, to wit, to the dwellers in Jerusalem." That narrowing matters, because verse 6 then has to add the country districts separately; Barnes builds his whole reading of verses 5 and 6 on this restriction.
בְּתוֹרַ֥ת The preposition is b, "in," not "to": they are to hold fast in the law, not merely turn toward it. With châzaq the image is of a man gripping something he is inside of. Pulpit suggests supplying "to teach" after "encouraged" on the strength of 2 Chronicles 17:9, which is an inference, not the text.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

is not elsewhere mentioned as subject to tithe; perhaps grape syrup (modern Arabic dibs ) is meant here, as in Genesis 43:11 and Ezekiel 27:17 (according to some commentators). Honey (like leaven) was forbidden for sacrificial use ( Leviticus 2:11 ).

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

there is none at all that the people's pious zeal might prompt them to bring tithe of it voluntarily , among other things, that they at any time held in honour and had in abundance.

Pulpit argues directly against the "dates" reading that Benson, Poole and the Jewish writers prefer; the two positions are printed here side by side unresolved.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

but though honey was forbid to be used in sacrifice, it was not forbidden to be eaten; and as the land of Judea abounded with honey, properly so called, the priests might have the firstfruits of that as of other liquors

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As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously provided the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance—a tithe of everything.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

had·dā·ḇār wə·ḵip̄·rōṣ ḇə·nê- yiś·rā·’êl hir·bū rê·šîṯ dā·ḡān tî·rō·wōš wə·yiṣ·hār ū·ḏə·ḇaš wə·ḵōl tə·ḇū·’aṯ śā·ḏeh hê·ḇî·’ū lā·rōḇ ū·ma‘·śar hak·kōl

Word by word17 · parsed

הַדָּבָ֗רhad·dā·ḇārAs soon as the orderH1697

√ dâbâr — a wordArticleNounmasculine singular

וְכִפְרֹ֣ץwə·ḵip̄·rōṣwent outH6555

√ pârats — to break out (in many applications, direct and indirect, literal and figurative)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-kVerbQalInfinitive construct

pârats: to break out (in many applications, direct and indirect, literal and figurative) An infinitive construct doing the work of a temporal clause. The commentators split on what broke out where: Poole and Benson offer two options, either the report of the command spreading beyond Jerusalem, or the king extending to the whole kingdom an order that verse 4 confined to the capital. The grammar supports either; the verse's own logic favours the second, since verse 6 has to name the country districts as a fresh group.

בְנֵֽי־ḇə·nê-the IsraelitesH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct

יִשְׂרָאֵל֙yiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

הִרְבּ֤וּhir·būgenerously providedH7235

√ râbâh — to increase (in whatever respect)VerbHifilPerfectthird person common plural

râbâh: to increase (in whatever respect) Hiphil: they caused increase. The verb is deliberately quantitative and returns as a theme word: the heaps of verses 6 and 7, the "abundance" of index 14, and the "great multitude" of verse 10 are all this verb's fruit.

רֵאשִׁ֣יתrê·šîṯthe firstfruitsH7225

√ rêʼshîyth — the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically, a firstfruit)Nounfeminine singular construct

rêʼshîyth: the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically, a firstfruit) The principle that the first of a thing belongs to God before any of it belongs to the owner. Here it is the priests' portion specifically, as against the tithe which supports the whole tribe; Ellicott, K&D and JFB all draw that line from Numbers 18.

דָּגָ֗ןdā·ḡānof the grainH1715

√ dâgân — properly, increase, iNounmasculine singular

תִּיר֤וֹשׁtî·rō·wōšnew wineH8492

√ tîyrôwsh — must or fresh grape-juice (as just squeezed out)Nounmasculine singular

וְיִצְהָר֙wə·yiṣ·hāroilH3323

√ yitshâr — oil (as producing light)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

וּדְבַ֔שׁū·ḏə·ḇašand honeyH1706

√ dᵉbash — honey (from its stickiness)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

dᵉbash: honey (from its stickiness) The disputed item. Its presence is evidence either that the people gave beyond the letter of the law, or that the word covers a sweet fruit syrup that the law did include. JFB takes the first line, noting that even produce unfit for sacrifice was appropriated to the priests. Gill is the fullest, citing Pliny on the Arabic name and concluding that Judea's abundance of real honey makes the literal sense workable.

וְכֹ֖לwə·ḵōland of allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

תְּבוּאַ֣תtə·ḇū·’aṯthe produceH8393

√ tᵉbûwʼâh — income, iNounfeminine singular construct

tᵉbûwʼâh: income "Produce, revenue, ingathering," from the root "to come in." Paired with the verb of index 13 (also "to come in"), so the Hebrew has the field's coming-in brought in: what the land yielded, the people carried.

שָׂדֶ֑הśā·ḏehof the fieldH7704

√ sâdeh — a field (as flat)Nounmasculine singular

הֵבִֽיאוּ׃hê·ḇî·’ūand they brought inH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbHifilPerfectthird person common plural

לָרֹ֖בlā·rōḇan abundanceH7230

√ rôb — abundance (in any respect)Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

וּמַעְשַׂ֥רū·ma‘·śara titheH4643

√ maʻăsêr — a tenthConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

maʻăsêr: a tenth The tithe, set at the end of the verse as a summarising clause: "and the tithe of the all." Gill reports Kimchi and the Talmud extending it even to herbs, which the law left untithed, and points at Matthew 23:23 for where that zeal eventually led. The Chronicler is not making that judgment here; he is recording abundance.

הַכֹּ֛לhak·kōlof everythingH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeArticleNounmasculine singular

kôl: properly, the whole With the article, "the everything." The second kôl of the verse, closing the list it opened.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-as-the-breaking-forth of-the-word, the-sons-of-Israel multiplied the-firstfruit-of grain, new-wine and-oil and-honey, and-all the-produce-of the-field; they-brought-in for-abundance, and-the-tithe-of the-all.

Where the English smooths the original

וְכִפְרֹ֣ץ וְכִפְרֹ֣ץ (wə·ḵip̄·rōṣ, H6555 pârats, Qal infinitive construct with k) is not "went out" but "broke out, burst through": Strong's gives "to break out (in many applications, direct and indirect, literal and figurative)." It is the verb of a breached wall or a flood through a gap. Ellicott renders it "And when the word broke forth." BSB's "As soon as the order went out" is chronologically right and metaphorically flat: the Hebrew pictures the royal word bursting its banks.
הִרְבּ֤וּ הִרְבּ֤וּ (hir·bū, H7235 râbâh, Hiphil perfect) means "they made much, they multiplied." There is no word for generosity in the clause; "generously provided" reads a motive into a quantity. Cambridge notes that the Revised Version corrects "brought in abundance" to "gave in abundance." The Hebrew simply records volume, and the volume is the argument.
רֵאשִׁ֣ית רֵאשִׁ֣ית (rê·šîṯ, H7225 rêʼshîyth) is "the first, in place, time, order or rank," hence a firstfruit. Singular construct governing the whole list: one "first" spread over grain, new wine, oil and honey. Ellicott and K&D both note that firstfruits went to the priests (Numbers 18:12) while the tithe at the end of the verse went to the whole Levitical tribe (Numbers 18:21-24): two revenue streams in one sentence.
וּדְבַ֔שׁ וּדְבַ֔שׁ (ū·ḏə·ḇaš, H1706 dᵉbash, "honey, from its stickiness") is the one item on the list that the law does not name. Benson, Poole and Gill report that the Jewish writers read it as date syrup, since the law tithes only trees, field and beasts; Cambridge suggests grape syrup (Arabic dibs) and notes honey was barred from sacrificial use (Leviticus 2:11). Pulpit rejects the emendation, holding that the word plainly means bee honey and that pious zeal could bring it voluntarily. Our text does not settle it.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

This expression is assumed to be equivalent to “the heave offerings of the holy things ” ( Numbers 18:19 ), which denotes such portions of the sacrificial gifts as were not consumed upon the altar.

Ellicott goes on to call the phrase wholly isolated and to suspect a lacuna in the text, so this equivalence is offered as the best available sense, not as a settled one.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The statement of our verse, therefore, differs only in expression from the prescription of the law, but in substance it completely agrees with it.

K&D reaches this against Bertheau, who found no correspondence between the law and this verse; the confidence of the conclusion should be read against Ellicott's suspicion of a damaged text.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

they brought in not only the same tithes which the dwellers in Jerusalem did, to wit, of corn, and wine, and oil , &c., which they had in their own storehouses in that city; but also oxen and sheep, which were more proper to the country

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

For the relief of the priests, Levites, widows, pupils, fatherless, strangers, and such as were in need.

Geneva widens the beneficiaries beyond the clergy to the poor and the stranger; that is a legitimate inference from the Deuteronomic tithe laws, but this verse names only the heaps.

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And the Israelites and Judahites who lived in the cities of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things consecrated to the LORD their God, and they laid them in large heaps.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê yiś·rā·’êl wî·hū·ḏāh hay·yō·wō·šə·ḇîm bə·‘ā·rê yə·hū·ḏāh hêm gam- hê·ḇî·’ū ma‘·śar bā·qār wā·ṣōn ū·ma‘·śar qā·ḏā·šîm ham·qud·dā·šîm Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê·hem way·yit·tə·nū ‘ă·rê·mō·wṯ ‘ă·rê·mō·wṯ

Word by word20 · parsed

וּבְנֵ֧יū·ḇə·nêAnd the IsraelitesH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct

יִשְׂרָאֵ֣לyiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

וִֽיהוּדָ֗הwî·hū·ḏāhand JudahitesH3063

√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

הַיּֽוֹשְׁבִים֮hay·yō·wō·šə·ḇîmwho livedH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

yâshab: properly, to sit down Participle with article: the sitting ones, the settled population. The phrase is the deliberate counterpart to 31:4's "dwellers of Jerusalem." Barnes reads the two verses as two distinct constituencies, the capital bringing firstfruits and tithes of all things, the country districts (who were not covered by the verse 4 command) bringing tithe of livestock and of vowed things only.

בְּעָרֵ֣יbə·‘ā·rêin the citiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Preposition-bNounfeminine plural construct

יְהוּדָה֒yə·hū·ḏāhof JudahH3063

√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

הֵ֗םhêmH1992

√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural

גַּם־gam-alsoH1571

√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction

הֵבִ֕יאוּhê·ḇî·’ūbroughtH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbHifilPerfectthird person common plural

מַעְשַׂ֤רma‘·śara titheH4643

√ maʻăsêr — a tenthNounmasculine singular construct

maʻăsêr: a tenth Twice in this verse. The first is the herd and flock tithe of Leviticus 27:32, which Gill names: a tithe paid in living animals, which is why the cities of Judah rather than Jerusalem produce it.

בָּקָר֙bā·qārof their herdsH1241

√ bâqâr — beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gender (as used for plowing)Nounmasculine singular

וָצֹ֔אןwā·ṣōnand flocksH6629

√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)Conjunctive wawNouncommon singular

וּמַעְשַׂ֣רū·ma‘·śarand a titheH4643

√ maʻăsêr — a tenthConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

קָֽדָשִׁ֔יםqā·ḏā·šîmof the holy thingsH6944

√ qôdesh — a sacred place or thingNounmasculine plural

qôdesh: a sacred place or thing Things already transferred out of common use into God's ownership. That is precisely why a tithe of them is puzzling: you cannot pay a tenth of what is already wholly given. K&D's answer is that the law never assigned the qôdesh itself to the priests but only the heave-offering portions of it, so what looks like a tenth of holy things is really the priests' share of the sacrificial gifts; Ellicott instead suspects the text is damaged. The gap between those two answers is the honest state of this phrase.

הַמְקֻדָּשִׁ֖יםham·qud·dā·šîmconsecratedH6942

√ qâdash — to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally)ArticleVerbPualParticiplemasculine plural

qâdash: to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally) Pual participle: acted upon, made holy. Geneva takes the consecration as vow-fulfilment, things "dedicated to the Lord by a vow," which fits Poole's and Benson's reading of the previous phrase.

לַיהוָ֣הYah·wehto the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם’ĕ·lō·hê·hemtheir GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural

ʼĕlôhîym: gods in the ordinary sense Construct plural with "their": their God. The possessive matters in a chapter about Israelites who had left the northern kingdom, according to K&D and Ellicott; the tithe is a confession of whose people they now are.

וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּway·yit·tə·nūand they laid themH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

nâthan: to give, used with greatest latitude of application Consecutive imperfect, and the only finite main verb in a long verse whose subject took four words to name and whose objects took eight. Strong's stresses its latitude (put, make, set), and the English here chooses the narrowest branch, "laid," because the heaps need stacking; but the verb the Chronicler picked is the covenant's ordinary word for giving, the same one used of God giving the land. Everything the chapter has built toward comes to rest in it: they gave, and what they gave had shape and mass enough to be walked around in 31:8.

עֲרֵמ֥וֹת‘ă·rê·mō·wṯin large heapsH6194

√ ʻârêm — a heapNounfeminine plural

ʻârêm: a heap A rare noun, found in only ten verses. Here it is the visible, walkable evidence of an invisible obedience, and it becomes the unit's keyword: the heaps are founded (v. 7), seen (v. 8), asked about (v. 9), and explained (v. 10). The whole narrative turns on a pile of grain that nobody needed to eat.

עֲרֵמֽוֹת׃ס‘ă·rê·mō·wṯ. . .H6194

√ ʻârêm — a heapNounfeminine plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-the-sons-of Israel and-Judah, the-ones-dwelling in-the-cities-of Judah, they also brought a-tithe-of herd and-flock, and-a-tithe-of holy-things, the-ones-made-holy to-YHWH their-God; and-they-gave heaps heaps.

Where the English smooths the original

עֲרֵמ֥וֹת עֲרֵמֽוֹת עֲרֵמ֥וֹת עֲרֵמֽוֹת (ʻă·rê·mō·wṯ ʻă·rê·mō·wṯ, H6194 twice) is the doubled noun, "heaps heaps," a Hebrew idiom for multiplicity. Ellicott renders it literally as that doubling and glosses it as many heaps, citing the Vulgate's fecerunt acervos plurimos; K&D reads it the same way. "In large heaps" gets the sense and loses the stammer, and the stammer is the point: the narrator is counting piles he cannot count.
מַעְשַׂ֣ר קָֽדָשִׁ֔ים מַעְשַׂ֣ר קָֽדָשִׁ֔ים ("a tithe of holy things," H4643 + H6944) is the crux of the verse. Ellicott calls it "a very surprising, as it is a wholly isolated, expression" and suspects "probably a lacuna in the text"; K&D defends it as a loose designation for the heave-offerings of Numbers 18:19 and concludes that the verse "differs only in expression from the prescription of the law." Poole and Benson take it as an addition rather than an explanation: tithes of things vowed, of merchandise, of spoil. Cambridge notes the Revised Version prints "dedicated things." The English "a tithe of the holy things" simply carries the difficulty across.
הַמְקֻדָּשִׁ֖ים הַמְקֻדָּשִׁ֖ים (ham·qud·dā·šîm, H6942, Pual participle with article) is a passive intensive: "the ones that have been made holy." Not "consecrated" as a bare adjective but a completed action done to them by someone. Set beside the noun קָֽדָשִׁ֔ים from the same root, the Hebrew says holy-things-that-were-holied, which is exactly the redundancy that makes the phrase hard.
וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּ וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּ (way·yit·tə·nū, H5414 nâthan, "to give") has no object pronoun: simply "and they gave, heaps heaps." BSB's "they laid them" supplies an "them" and softens nâthan into a verb of stacking. But the verb of the verse is give: the heaps are the giving, piled where the king can walk out and look at them in verse 8.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

To found, or lay. Heb., lîsôd, a curious form only met with here.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

The wheat harvest occurred in the third month, so that the sheaves of that grain, being presented before any other, formed "the foundation," an under-layer in the corn stores of the temple. The first-fruits of their land produce which were successively sent in all the summer till the close of the fruit and vintage season, that is, the seventh month, continued to raise heap upon heap.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The Feast of Harvest took place at the beginning of this month and seven weeks later the Feast of Ingathering followed.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

The month Sivan, as the Targum, in which month was the feast of Pentecost, called the feast of the harvest, Exodus 23:16 , for then barley harvest was ended, and wheat harvest began, and the firstfruits were brought

Gill's month names come from the Targum, a source later than the Chronicler; the Hebrew here gives only ordinal numbers.

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In the third month they began building up the heaps, and they finished in the seventh month.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

haš·šə·li·šî ba·ḥō·ḏeš hê·ḥêl·lū lə·yis·sō·wḏ hā·‘ă·rê·mō·wṯ kil·lū haš·šə·ḇî·‘î ū·ḇa·ḥō·ḏeš

Word by word8 · parsed

הַשְּׁלִשִׁ֔יhaš·šə·li·šîIn the thirdH7992

√ shᵉlîyshîy — thirdArticleNumberordinal masculine singular

shᵉlîyshîy: third Ordinal, with the article. Sivan, roughly our May and June.

בַּחֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ba·ḥō·ḏešmonthH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

הֵחֵ֥לּוּhê·ḥêl·lūthey beganH2490

√ châlal — properly, to bore, iVerbHifilPerfectthird person common plural

châlal: properly, to bore The beginning is dated, and the date is the argument. Barnes notes that the Passover of chapters 29 and 30 had barely ended: less than a month elapsed before the gifts began pouring in. JFB adds that some time must have passed for the royal order to reach the whole kingdom, which places the start exactly where the grain harvest placed it.

לְיִסּ֑וֹדlə·yis·sō·wḏbuilding upH3245

√ yâçad — to set (literally or figuratively)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

yâçad: to set (literally or figuratively) A foundation verb, used of temples and of the earth. Applied to piles of tithe grain it is either a technical storage term or a quiet piece of theology: what the people give is laid like masonry. Ellicott notes the form occurs nowhere else in this shape, so the word choice is not a scribe's habit.

הָעֲרֵמ֖וֹתhā·‘ă·rê·mō·wṯthe heapsH6194

√ ʻârêm — a heapArticleNounfeminine plural

כִּלּֽוּ׃סkil·lūand they finishedH3615

√ kâlâh — to end, whether intransitive (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitived (to complete, prepare, consume)VerbPielPerfectthird person common plural

kâlâh: to end, whether intransitive or transitive Piel perfect: brought to completion. Four months of harvest bracketed by two feasts. The verse is a construction schedule.

הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖יhaš·šə·ḇî·‘îin the seventhH7637

√ shᵉbîyʻîy — seventhArticleNumberordinal masculine singular

shᵉbîyʻîy: seventh Tishri. Ellicott, Gill, Poole and Cambridge agree on the calendar: the third month holds Pentecost, the Feast of Harvest, and the seventh holds Tabernacles, the Feast of Ingathering, after fruit and vintage. So the heaps begin and end on feast days, and the giving fills the interval between them: the liturgical year is the timetable of the economy.

וּבַחֹ֥דֶשׁū·ḇa·ḥō·ḏešmonthH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonConjunctive waw, Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

In-the-month the-third they-began to-found the-heaps, and-in-the-month the-seventh they-finished.

Where the English smooths the original

לְיִסּ֑וֹד לְיִסּ֑וֹד (lə·yis·sō·wḏ, H3245 yâçad, Qal infinitive construct) is architectural: "to found, to lay a foundation." BSB's "building up the heaps" reverses the direction. Ellicott flags the form itself: "a curious form only met with here," comparing lîsôd in Isaiah 51:16; K&D explains the daghesh in the samek by assimilation of the yod. JFB draws out the picture: the wheat sheaves came first and "formed the foundation, an under-layer in the corn stores of the temple." A heap of grain with a foundation course is a building, and the Hebrew says so.
הֵחֵ֥לּוּ הֵחֵ֥לּוּ (hê·ḥêl·lū, H2490 châlal, Hiphil perfect) is "they began," but Strong's root sense is "properly, to bore, i.e. pierce": to begin is to make the first opening into a thing. The same verb returns in 31:10 as an infinitive (mê·hā·ḥêl, "from the beginning of bringing"), tying the priest's answer directly back to this date.
כִּלּֽוּ כִּלּֽוּ (kil·lū, H3615 kâlâh, Piel perfect) is a completive intensive. Strong's covers both directions of this root, "to cease, be finished, perish" and "to complete, prepare, consume"; the Piel here is the constructive side. "They finished" is accurate, but the verse has no object, so the English must supply "them": the Hebrew simply says they completed.

When Hezekiah and his officials came and viewed the heaps, they blessed the LORD and His people Israel.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yə·ḥiz·qî·yā·hū wə·haś·śā·rîm way·yā·ḇō·’ū way·yir·’ū ’eṯ- hā·‘ă·rê·mō·wṯ way·ḇā·ră·ḵū ’eṯ- Yah·weh wə·’êṯ ‘am·mōw yiś·rā·’êl

Word by word12 · parsed

יְחִזְקִיָּ֣הוּyə·ḥiz·qî·yā·hūWhen HezekiahH2396

√ Chizqîyâh — Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וְהַשָּׂרִ֔יםwə·haś·śā·rîmand his officialsH8269

√ sar — a head person (of any rank or class)Conjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine plural

sar: a head person (of any rank or class) The princes of Judah, present at each stage of Hezekiah's reform. Note that K&D's paraphrase of this verse reads "Hezekiah and the priests," where the Hebrew has sarim, officials: a small slip in an otherwise exact commentator, and worth knowing about before leaning on his wording.

וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙way·yā·ḇō·’ūcameH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

וַיִּרְא֖וּway·yir·’ūand viewedH7200

√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

râʼâh: to see, literally or figuratively The hinge of the verse, and the Chronicler's habitual trigger for praise: they came, they saw, they blessed, in three consecutive consecutive-imperfects with nothing between them. Obedience had become a thing with mass and volume that a king could walk out and look at, which is the whole reason this narrative can end in doxology rather than in an audit. The same eyes then ask a question in 31:9, so seeing here produces both worship and inquiry, and the priest's answer in 31:10 will redirect the seeing from the heaps to the God who caused them.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

הָעֲרֵמ֑וֹתhā·‘ă·rê·mō·wṯthe heapsH6194

√ ʻârêm — a heapArticleNounfeminine plural

וַֽיְבָרֲכוּ֙way·ḇā·ră·ḵūthey blessedH1288

√ bârak — to kneelConjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

bârak: to kneel Piel, so intensive and declarative: to pronounce blessing. The root is a posture word, kneeling, and the derived noun is the gift that comes from the knee-bend. The same verb in the same stem returns in verse 10 with YHWH as subject and the people as object (bê·raḵ): here men bless God and His people, there God has blessed His people. The verse pair puts the two directions of one word face to face, and verse 10 settles which direction is prior.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

יְהוָ֔הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

וְאֵ֖תwə·’êṯH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

עַמּ֥וֹ‘am·mōwand His peopleH5971

√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

ʻam: a people (as a congregated unit) With the third masculine singular suffix: His people. Benson and Poole read the second blessing as praise of the people for their forwardness and faithfulness, which is the natural human sense; the Hebrew's use of the same verb leaves open the stronger reading, that the king invoked good upon them.

יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃פyiś·rā·’êlIsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Hezekiah came, and-the-officials, and-they-saw the-heaps, and-they-blessed YHWH and-His-people Israel.

Where the English smooths the original

וַֽיְבָרֲכוּ֙ וַֽיְבָרֲכוּ֙ (way·ḇā·ră·ḵū, H1288 bârak, Piel consecutive imperfect) governs two objects through two separate אֶת־ markers: YHWH, and His people Israel. One verb, two recipients, and the English cannot help but read it twice over. Strong's root sense is "to kneel." Geneva and Gill both feel the strain and split the sense: "They praised the Lord and prayed for all prosperity to his people." Benson and Poole do the same. The Hebrew does not split it, and that single verb blessing God and men in one breath is the theological weight of the verse.
וַיִּרְא֖וּ וַיִּרְא֖וּ (way·yir·’ū, H7200 râʼâh, "to see, literally or figuratively") is plain sight. "Viewed" suggests inspection; the verse says they came and they saw. Seeing is the trigger for blessing here, which is the Chronicler's pattern: visible evidence, then doxology. The same eyes then ask a question in verse 9.
וְהַשָּׂרִ֔ים וְהַשָּׂרִ֔ים (wə·haś·śā·rîm, H8269 sar, "a head person of any rank or class") has the article but no pronoun: "and the officials," not "his officials." The Hebrew presents them as the standing body of chiefs rather than as the king's personal retinue, which matters in a chapter where the reform is national and not merely royal.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

not as to whether they were sufficient for the support of the priests and Levites, but as to how it happened that such masses had been heaped up.

K&D explicitly rules out the reading that JFB and Barnes adopt; the brief preserves both, and the verse itself states no object for the question.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

The object of his enquiries was to ascertain whether the supplies afforded the prospect of a sufficient maintenance for the members of the sacred order.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

in order to know whether the ministering priests and Levites had had their maintenance out of the tithes, and whether the accumulation which he saw was clear surplus.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The questioning had no doubt to do with the subject how the superabundant contributions should be utilized or preserved.

Pulpit's "no doubt" is confidence the text does not supply; the storage question is only settled in the verses after this unit.

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Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and Levites about the heaps,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yə·ḥiz·qî·yā·hū way·yiḏ·rōš hak·kō·hă·nîm wə·hal·wî·yim ‘al- ‘al- hā·‘ă·rê·mō·wṯ

Word by word7 · parsed

יְחִזְקִיָּ֗הוּyə·ḥiz·qî·yā·hūThen HezekiahH2396

√ Chizqîyâh — Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַיִּדְרֹ֣שׁway·yiḏ·rōšquestionedH1875

√ dârash — properly, to tread or frequentConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

dârash: properly, to tread or frequent The verb of seeking, used throughout Chronicles for seeking YHWH. Here the king seeks information from the priests, and the answer he gets in verse 10 is a doxology: the inquiry into logistics comes back as testimony. That the Chronicler uses his seeking-verb for a question about grain piles is itself a comment on where he thinks God is visible.

הַכֹּֽהֲנִ֛יםhak·kō·hă·nîmthe priestsH3548

√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural

וְהַלְוִיִּ֖םwə·hal·wî·yimand LevitesH3881

√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine plural

עַל־‘al-. . .H5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

ʻal: above, over, upon, or against The preposition of the idiom dārash ʻal, to make inquiry concerning. Listed twice in the interlinear; one word in the text.

עַל־‘al-aboutH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

הָעֲרֵמֽוֹת׃hā·‘ă·rê·mō·wṯthe heapsH6194

√ ʻârêm — a heapArticleNounfeminine plural

ʻârêm: a heap The fifth occurrence of this rare noun, in the fourth consecutive verse to carry it (31:6 twice, then 31:7, 31:8, 31:9). Five occurrences in one eight-verse unit, for a lexeme found in only ten verses of the whole Hebrew Bible, makes this passage the word's principal home, and the repetition is how the narrator keeps the reader's eye on the pile while the king walks around it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Hezekiah inquired-of the-priests and-the-Levites concerning the-heaps.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיִּדְרֹ֣שׁ וַיִּדְרֹ֣שׁ (way·yiḏ·rōš, H1875 dârash) is "to seek, enquire," from a root Strong's glosses "properly, to tread or frequent." It is the standard verb for seeking God and for consulting an oracle; Ellicott identifies the construction as dārash ʻal and compares 2 Samuel 11:3 and 1 Samuel 28:7, the second of which is Saul seeking a medium. "Questioned" is right in effect, but the Hebrew word is heavier: the king does not chat, he makes formal inquiry of the clergy.
עַל־ עַל־ The interlinear lists עַל־ (H5921) twice, at indices 4 and 5, the first glossed with ellipsis dots and the second "about." The Hebrew of the verse as printed has one governing preposition; the doubled entry is an artefact of how the interlinear aligns the Hebrew to the English gloss, not a second word in the text. Do not build anything on it.
הָעֲרֵמֽוֹת הָעֲרֵמֽוֹת (H6194 ʻârêm), the heaps, closes the verse as its sole object, and the verse contains no object of the question itself. What the king wanted to know is therefore not stated, and the commentators divide: K&D says he asked how such masses came to be heaped up, JFB says he was ascertaining whether the supply would maintain the sacred order, Barnes says he wanted to know whether the piles were clear surplus, Pulpit says the subject was how to store them. All four are inferences from silence.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Eating and being satisfied, and leaving over, even unto abundance (exclamatory infinitives).

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The Heb. word těrûmâh denotes the heave offering ( Leviticus 7:32 ), which the priest heaved (“lifted on high”) and was allowed to keep for himself.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

And we have not hoarded these heaps for covetousness, but to show what plentiful provision God has made for us.

Benson is voicing a motive for the priests that the Hebrew does not state; it is a defence of them against the suspicion the king's question might imply.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

He shows that this plenteous liberality is expedient for the maintenance of the ministers and that God therefore prospers his people and increases by his blessing that which is given.

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and Azariah, the chief priest of the household of Zadok, answered him, “Since the people began to bring their contributions into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and there is plenty left over, because the LORD has blessed His people; this great abundance is what is left over.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

‘ă·zar·yā·hū hā·rōš hak·kō·hên lə·ḇêṯ ṣā·ḏō·wq way·yō·mer way·yō·mer ’ê·lāw mê·hā·ḥêl lā·ḇî hat·tə·rū·māh ḇêṯ- Yah·weh wə·śā·ḇō·w·a‘ ’ā·ḵō·wl lā·rō·wḇ wə·hō·w·ṯêr ‘aḏ- kî Yah·weh bê·raḵ ’eṯ- ‘am·mōw haz·zeh he·hā·mō·wn wə·han·nō·w·ṯār ’eṯ-

Word by word27 · parsed

עֲזַרְיָ֧הוּ‘ă·zar·yā·hūand AzariahH5838

√ ʻĂzaryâh — Azarjah, the name of nineteen IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

הָרֹ֖אשׁhā·rōšthe chiefH7218

√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcArticleNounmasculine singular

rôʼsh: the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative "The head priest." Whether this Azariah is the high priest who confronted Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:17 is disputed in our own sources: Barnes allows it and calculates it would mean at least thirty-three years in office; K&D says "hardly"; Cambridge suggests he may have been only just appointed; Pulpit and Poole raise the further question whether "chief priest of the house of Zadok" even means the high priest rather than the head of one priestly family.

הַכֹּהֵ֛ןhak·kō·hênpriestH3548

√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine singular

לְבֵ֣יתlə·ḇêṯof the householdH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

צָד֑וֹקṣā·ḏō·wqof ZadokH6659

√ Tsâdôwq — Tsadok, the name of eight or nine IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַ֠יֹּאמֶרway·yō·mer. . .H559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיֹּ֣אמֶרway·yō·meransweredH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֵלָ֗יו’ê·lāwhimH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionthird person masculine singular

מֵהָחֵ֨לmê·hā·ḥêlSince [the people] beganH2490

√ châlal — properly, to bore, iPreposition-mVerbHifilInfinitive construct

châlal: properly, to bore Hifil infinitive construct with min: "from the beginning of." The same verb that dated the heaps in 31:7. The priest answers a question about quantity by giving a date, which is how he turns an audit into a testimony: measure it from when the giving started.

לָבִ֣יאlā·ḇîto bringH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Preposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive construct

הַתְּרוּמָ֜הhat·tə·rū·māhtheir contributionsH8641

√ tᵉrûwmâh — a present (as offered up), especially in sacrifice or as tributeArticleNounfeminine singular

tᵉrûwmâh: a present (as offered up), especially in sacrifice or as tribute The lifted offering. Cambridge and Ellicott both note this is the word the Authorised Version usually renders "heave offering" and that the Revised Version prints "oblations" here. It names the priests' own livelihood: the portion lifted off the altar's gifts and kept.

בֵית־ḇêṯ-into the houseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

יְהוָ֗הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

וְשָׂב֤וֹעַwə·śā·ḇō·w·a‘we have had enoughH7646

√ sâbaʻ — to sate, iConjunctive wawVerbQalInfinitive absolute

sâbaʻ: to sate Infinitive absolute. Satisfaction, not mere sufficiency. Set against the burnt offerings of 31:3, which no one eats, this half of the system is the half that feeds: the altar consumes wholly, the tithe feeds wholly, and a priesthood needs both.

אָכ֨וֹל’ā·ḵō·wlto eatH398

√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalInfinitive absolute

ʼâkal: to eat (literally or figuratively) Infinitive absolute. The plainest possible word, and the answer to 31:4: men who were to hold fast to the law had first to eat.

לָר֔וֹבlā·rō·wḇand there is plentyH7230

√ rôb — abundance (in any respect)Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

וְהוֹתֵר֙wə·hō·w·ṯêrleft overH3498

√ yâthar — to jut over or exceedConjunctive wawVerbHifilInfinitive absolute

yâthar: to jut over or exceed Infinitive absolute, "and leaving over." The root is the surplus that sticks out past the edge of need. It returns at index 25 as a Nifal participle, so the verse names the leftover twice, once as an act and once as a thing.

עַד־‘aḏ-. . .H5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition

כִּ֤יkîbecauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

יְהוָה֙Yah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

בֵּרַ֣ךְbê·raḵhas blessedH1288

√ bârak — to kneelVerbPielPerfectthird person masculine singular

bârak: to kneel Piel perfect, YHWH the subject, His people the object. This is the causal clause of the whole unit: kî, because. Men blessed God in 31:8 with this same verb in this same stem; here God is disclosed as the one who blessed first, and the heaps are the evidence. Cambridge sends the reader to Malachi 3:10, and the Targum (via Gill) reads "the Word of the Lord has blessed them."

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

עַמּ֔וֹ‘am·mōwHis peopleH5971

√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

הַזֶּֽה׃סhaz·zehthisH2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular

הֶהָמ֥וֹןhe·hā·mō·wngreat abundanceH1995

√ hâmôwn — a noise, tumult, crowdArticleNounmasculine singular

hâmôwn: a noise, tumult, crowd The surplus called a multitude. Gill reports Kimchi taking the clause the other way, that what is left is for the great multitude of priests and Levites and their families in Jerusalem and the country cities, which turns a description of grain into a statement of purpose. The Hebrew accusative makes that reading hard but not impossible.

וְהַנּוֹתָ֖רwə·han·nō·w·ṯāris what is left overH3498

√ yâthar — to jut over or exceedConjunctive waw, ArticleVerbNifalParticiplemasculine singular

yâthar: to jut over or exceed Nifal participle with article: the remaining thing. Barnes's reading of the exchange is the soberest one available: the harvest was unusually abundant, hence the unusual tithe. Benson adds the priest's motive, that the heaps were not hoarded out of covetousness but left standing to show what provision God had made.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

ʼêth: properly, self (object marker) The superfluous particle. Ellicott would emend, Cambridge records the trouble it has caused, K&D defends it as vivid speech.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Azariah spoke, the-head priest of-the-house-of Zadok, and-he-said to-him: From-the-beginning of-bringing the-contribution into-the-house-of YHWH, eating and-being-satisfied and-leaving-over unto abundance, for YHWH has-blessed His-people; and-the-left-over is this great-multitude.

Where the English smooths the original

וְשָׂב֤וֹעַ אָכ֨וֹל וְהוֹתֵר֙ Three infinitives absolute in a row (H398 ʼâkal, H7646 sâbaʻ, H3498 yâthar), with no subject and no finite verb: "eating and being satisfied and leaving over." Ellicott calls them "exclamatory infinitives" and renders "Eating and being satisfied, and leaving over, even unto abundance," comparing Hosea 4:2; K&D says they "stand in animated speech instead of the first pers. plur. perf." BSB's "we have had enough to eat, and there is plenty left over" supplies a "we" and two tensed verbs that the Hebrew does not have. What is lost is the breathlessness: the priest answers the king in bare verbal nouns, like a man too full to conjugate.
הַתְּרוּמָ֜ה הַתְּרוּמָ֜ה (hat·tə·rū·māh, H8641 tᵉrûwmâh) is "a present as offered up," the thing lifted. Cambridge explains that the word denotes the heave offering of Leviticus 7:32, which the priest heaved, that is lifted on high, and was allowed to keep for himself. "Their contributions" is a flat civic word for a liturgical gesture, and it drops the physical lifting that gives the noun its name and the priest his living.
הֶהָמ֥וֹן הֶהָמ֥וֹן (he·hā·mō·wn, H1995 hâmôwn) is glossed by Strong's "a noise, tumult, crowd," normally used of a roaring multitude of people. Applied to leftover grain it is a striking transfer: the surplus is described as a crowd, a din. "This great abundance" is accurate in sense and silent on the noise. The English also has to reorder the clause, because in the Hebrew this noun stands in the accusative.
אֶת־ The final word of the verse in the interlinear (index 26) is the direct object marker אֶת־ (H853) attached to hehâmôn in a clause that has no verb to govern it. Ellicott judges the reading probably wrong and, with Kamphausen, proposes "and there is left this great store" (dropping the article and reading wĕ-nôthār). Cambridge is blunter: "An apparently superfluous particle (eth) in the Heb. has troubled the translators and commentators," and reports the Septuagint's "we leave this great store and more." K&D defends the construction as another effect of animated speech. The verse ends on a textual difficulty that no translation shows the reader.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The king pays first — 31:3-4

The unit opens on a clause with no verb in it. וּמְנָת֩ (mᵉnâth, H4521) is a noun, and Ellicott insists on hearing it as one: "And the king's portion." What the Hebrew states is not an action but an arrangement. K&D says the same thing in the same nominal shape, and both add that the material in question is the sacrificial stock prescribed in Numbers 28 and 29, drawn off the royal estate catalogued in 2 Chronicles 32:27-29. Barnes puts numbers to it: nearly 1,100 lambs, 113 bullocks, 37 rams and 30 goats a year, with flour, oil and wine besides.

Why the king? JFB answers from precedent: it belonged to the king out of his privy purse to defray the altar's expense, as David and Solomon had done (2 Chronicles 8:14; 1 Kings 9:25). Benson and Poole, in nearly identical wording (Poole is the earlier and likely the source), answer from circumstance: the cost had previously come out of temple treasures collected from the people, and Hezekiah shouldered it himself to ease a population impoverished by his predecessor. Barnes answers from pedagogy: the tithe system had fallen into disuse, and the king set the example of paying his full proportion so that others would pay theirs. The three answers are compatible, and the verse order supports all of them, since the king's outlay is recorded before the people are asked for anything.

Then verse 4 gives the reason for the whole economy, and it is not the upkeep of a building. יֶחֶזְק֖וּ (châzaq, H2388, Qal imperfect) is a verb of gripping; Ellicott's parallel is the sharpest observation in this unit's apparatus, since the same verb describes Absalom's head caught fast in the terebinth (2 Samuel 18:9), and he renders the purpose clause "that they might stick fast unto the law." K&D: "that they might hold themselves firmly to the law of Jahve." Geneva states the negative side, that their minds not be entangled with provision of worldly things. Barnes and Ellicott both point at Nehemiah 13:10, where the system fails and the Levites scatter to their fields. The logic runs one way only: unpaid clergy farm, and farming clergy cannot grip a text.

ii. The word breaks out and the heaps rise — 31:5-7

וְכִפְרֹ֣ץ (pârats, H6555) is the verb of a wall breached or a flood bursting through a gap, and Ellicott keeps the metaphor: "And when the word broke forth." What breaks out is a royal command, and where it breaks to is disputed in our sources: Poole and Benson offer either the report spreading to the provinces or the king extending to the whole kingdom an order that verse 4 had confined to Jerusalem. The next verse's careful naming of the country districts favours the second, and Barnes builds his reading on exactly that distinction, holding that Jerusalem brought firstfruits and tithes of all things while the country districts, not covered by the verse 4 command, brought tithe of livestock and of vowed things.

The list itself is law plus one item. Grain, new wine and oil are the statutory triad; וּדְבַ֔שׁ (dᵉbash, H1706) is not. Cambridge notes that honey is nowhere else subject to tithe and was forbidden for sacrificial use (Leviticus 2:11), and suggests grape syrup. Benson, Poole and Gill report the Jewish writers reading dates. Pulpit rejects the emendation outright, insisting the word plainly means bee honey and that "the people's pious zeal might prompt them to bring tithe of it voluntarily." JFB takes the same practical line from a different angle: even produce unfit for sacrifice was appropriated to the priests. Our text does not decide between them, and the reader should know that.

Then comes the unit's keyword, a rare noun found in only ten verses of the Hebrew Bible: עֲרֵמ֥וֹת (ʻârêm, H6194), and it arrives doubled. Ellicott translates "and made heaps heaps, i.e., many heaps," citing the Vulgate's fecerunt acervos plurimos; K&D reads it identically. And the heaps get a foundation: לְיִסּ֑וֹד (yâçad, H3245) is the verb used of laying foundations, in a form Ellicott says is "only met with here." JFB makes the picture concrete, the wheat sheaves as "the foundation, an under-layer in the corn stores of the temple." The schedule is liturgical at both ends: Ellicott, Gill, Poole and Cambridge agree that the third month holds the Feast of Harvest and the seventh the Feast of Ingathering, so the piles are begun on one feast and finished on another, and the giving fills the four months between.

iii. Seen, questioned, answered — 31:8-10

Verse 8 works by sight. וַיִּרְא֖וּ (râʼâh, H7200) then וַֽיְבָרֲכוּ֙ (bârak, H1288, Piel): they saw, and they blessed. One verb reaches two objects through two separate אֶת־ markers, YHWH and His people Israel, and every commentator in the brief flinches at the doubling. Geneva splits it: "They praised the Lord and prayed for all prosperity to his people." Gill splits it. Benson and Poole split it, with Poole adding that the king praised the people "for their forwardness and faithfulness in it." The Hebrew does not split it, and holding the two together is the theological event of the verse. Note also, before leaning on his wording, that K&D's paraphrase here reads "Hezekiah and the priests" where the text has sarim, officials.

Verse 9 is a question with no stated content. וַיִּדְרֹ֣שׁ (dârash, H1875) is the Chronicler's seeking-verb, the word for seeking God; Ellicott identifies the construction as dārash ʻal and compares 2 Samuel 11:3 and 1 Samuel 28:7. What the king sought to know is left blank, and our sources fill it four different ways. K&D rules out the pragmatic reading explicitly: not whether the supply sufficed, but how such masses came to be heaped up. JFB holds the reading K&D rejects, that the object was to ascertain whether the maintenance of the sacred order was secure. Barnes asks whether the pile was clear surplus. Pulpit says "no doubt" it concerned storage. Four confident answers to a question the verse declines to specify.

The answer, in verse 10, is not a figure. It is three infinitives absolute with no subject: וְשָׂב֤וֹעַ אָכ֨וֹל וְהוֹתֵר֙, which Ellicott calls "exclamatory infinitives" and renders "Eating and being satisfied, and leaving over, even unto abundance," and which K&D says "stand in animated speech instead of the first pers. plur. perf." Azariah dates the surplus rather than measuring it, using the same verb (châlal, H2490) that dated the heaps in verse 7, and then names its cause with kî: YHWH has blessed His people. That is bârak again, the same root in the same stem as verse 8, now with God as subject and the people as object, and Cambridge sends the reader to Malachi 3:10. The men who blessed God in verse 8 turn out to have been answering a blessing already given. The leftover itself gets called הֶהָמ֥וֹן (hâmôwn, H1995), "a noise, tumult, crowd": a word for a roaring throng, used here of grain.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ The following is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text, not as a finding of the sources above.

Read the unit as a single circuit and it has a direction. It opens with the king's mᵉnâth going out from his own gathered property and closes with YHWH's bârak disclosed as having gone out first. Between those two ends, everything moves inward: the word breaks out, the produce comes in, the heaps rise, and the last clause has to invent a word for the surplus because the accounting has no category for it. Notice that the passage measures obedience by a leftover. Not by the offering consumed, which verse 3 funds and no one eats, but by the portion that exceeded the need of the men it was given to feed, and that therefore had to be counted, stored and explained to a king.

Notice too what the money was for. Verse 4 does not say fund the priests so the sacrifices continue. It says fund them so they may grip the tôwrâh, with a verb strong enough to describe a man's head caught fast in a tree. The whole apparatus of firstfruits, tithes, herds, flocks, heaps and storage exists in this chapter to produce one outcome: a class of men with their hands free and their hands full. That is a claim about what a community is for, and it is made in grain.

And the answer Azariah gives is grammatically incapable of taking credit. He has no finite verbs and no subject: eating, being satisfied, leaving over. A man reporting his own achievement conjugates. Then he supplies the only subject in the sentence, and it is not himself or the people or the king: kî YHWH bêraḵ. The giving was never the cause of the abundance; it was the evidence that the abundance was already there. Which is why the king, who set out to audit a pile, gets a doxology instead, and why the two directions of bârak in verses 8 and 10 are not symmetrical. Men bless God because God blessed first. This is a reading, and the reader should test it.

This line is the tool's own gloss and is not Scripture: obedience here is audited by what was left over, not by what was spent.

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Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The rare word for a portion owed: Hezekiah's reform and Nehemiah's verbal / quotation: confirmed

The noun מְנָת (mᵉnâth, H4521) occurs in only eight verses of the Hebrew Bible, and two of this unit's verses (31:3, 31:4) carry it: first the king's own portion, then the portion owed to the priests and Levites. The Verifier finds the same rare lexeme clustered in Nehemiah 12:44, 12:47 and 13:10, each time for exactly this institution, and at Nehemiah 12:44 it stands alongside תּוֹרָה (tôwrâh, H8451) as here. The relation is not accidental: Nehemiah 13:10 records the system in collapse, the portions unpaid and the Levites fled to their fields, which is the precise failure Hezekiah's purpose clause was built to prevent. Ellicott, Barnes and K&D all cite Nehemiah 13:10 at 31:4 on independent grounds. What the Verifier adds is that the two passages share the technical vocabulary as well as the situation.

Nehemiah 12:44 · Nehemiah 12:47 · Nehemiah 13:10

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H4521 mᵉnâth, rare at 8 verses total, present in both passages as the technical term for the clergy's allotted portion; Nehemiah 12:44 additionally shares H8451 tôwrâh (freq 214) and Nehemiah 12:47 and 13:10 share H3881 Lêvîyîy (freq 263). No quotation is claimed in either direction: the verbal tier rests on the rarity of mᵉnâth, not on citation.

Heaps: a rare noun for grain, for ruin, and for a Sabbath broken structural / thematic: confirmed

עֲרֵמוֹת (ʻârêm, H6194) is found in only ten verses, and five of its occurrences fall inside this eight-verse unit, which makes 2 Chronicles 31 the word's home. The Verifier finds it shared with Ruth 3:7, where Boaz lies down at the end of the heap of grain; with Haggai 2:16, where the heap that should have held twenty measures held ten, because the house of God lay unbuilt; and with Nehemiah 13:15, where men tread wine presses and bring in heaps of sheaves on the Sabbath. Set beside our unit the contrast is exact and unforced. Here the heaps are the fruit of the temple being supplied; in Haggai they shrink because it is not; in Nehemiah 13:15 the same piles are hauled in on the very Sabbath whose offerings 31:3 funds. The Verifier also returns Nehemiah 4:2, where the same noun is used of burnt rubble, and Jeremiah 50:26, where Babylon's stores are to be piled up for destruction, so the word itself is neutral about whether a pile means plenty or wreckage.

Ruth 3:7 · Haggai 2:16 · Nehemiah 13:15 · Jeremiah 50:26

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H6194 ʻârêm, rare at 10 verses total (Ruth 3:7, Haggai 2:16, Nehemiah 13:15, Jeremiah 50:26 all returned as candidates, each with multiple hits of the lexeme). Nehemiah 13:15 also shares H7676 shabbâth (freq 89) and Jeremiah 50:26 and Nehemiah 4:2 share H3615 kâlâh (freq 201). The rarity would permit a verbal tier, but no text here quotes another and the motifs diverge (stored plenty, failed harvest, Sabbath traffic, rubble), so the link is filed as structural and deliberately under-claimed.

Grain, new wine and oil: the Deuteronomic tithe formula behind the list structural / thematic: confirmed

The list in 31:5 is not improvised. The Verifier finds the triad of this verse shared with Deuteronomy 12:17 and Deuteronomy 14:23, the statutes that name the tithe of דָּגָן (dâgân, H1715), new wine and יִצְהָר (yitshâr, H3323) and fix where it may be eaten, and with Nehemiah 10:37 and Nehemiah 13:5, the post-exilic renewal of the same schedule including the firstfruit term רֵאשִׁית (rêʼshîyth, H7225). Deuteronomy 14:23 also shares the purpose conjunction מַעַן (maʻan, H4616) that carries 31:4's whole argument. The Chronicler's report is therefore in the law's own vocabulary, which is what 31:3's kak·kā·ṯūḇ, "according to the written thing," claims for it. Ellicott and K&D cite the statutory chain at 31:4 (Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 27:30-33; Numbers 18:12, 21-24); the Verifier confirms the lexical overlap independently of their citations.

Deuteronomy 12:17 · Deuteronomy 14:23 · Nehemiah 10:37 · Nehemiah 13:5

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H4643 maʻăsêr (freq 27), H1715 dâgân (freq 40) and H3323 yitshâr (freq 23) with Deuteronomy 12:17; H4616 maʻan (freq 252) with Deuteronomy 14:23; H7225 rêʼshîyth (freq 49) and H3881 Lêvîyîy with Nehemiah 10:37; H3881, H1715 and H4643 with Nehemiah 13:5. Shared statutory vocabulary within one institution, not a quotation, so structural rather than verbal.

The first of the harvest: firstfruit as a figure typological

⚙ רֵאשִׁית (rêʼshîyth, H7225) in 31:5 is a single construct noun governing grain, new wine, oil and honey: one "first" for the whole harvest. Ellicott and K&D both note that this portion went specifically to the priests (Numbers 18:12), and the Verifier confirms the same lexeme in Nehemiah 10:37 where the post-exilic community renews the obligation. The figural reading is that a firstfruit is a pledge: it is not a tenth of a completed crop but the leading edge of one still coming in, offered as the guarantee that the rest belongs to God too. Paul applies exactly that logic to the resurrection, calling Christ the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20-23), and to the Spirit's present work as a first instalment (Romans 8:23). This is the standard and widely-held Christian handling of the firstfruit category, not a novelty; what is ours is the application of it to this verse in particular. Because the link is Greek against Hebrew it cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers, so it is tiered typological and not verbal, and nothing in it is claimed as a quotation of this text.

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 · Romans 8:23 · Nehemiah 10:37

basis: Figural, ancient and widely-held reading of the firstfruit category. Hebrew side anchored on H7225 rêʼshîyth (freq 49) at 31:5, which the Verifier also finds shared with Nehemiah 10:37; the New Testament side is Greek and therefore carries no shared-lexeme basis, so the tier is typological by construction rather than by downgrade.

Open the storehouse and see whether there is room: Malachi and the collection for the saints flagged: verify source

⚙ Cambridge, glossing "hath blessed his people" at 31:10, sends the reader to Malachi 3:10, where the tithe is brought into the storehouse and the blessing poured out until there is no room to receive it. The shape of the two passages is the same: produce brought in, blessing already at work, and a surplus that overruns the container. And the pattern recurs on the far side of the Testaments in Paul's collection, where giving is met with sufficiency and overflow (2 Corinthians 9:8-12) and a surplus meets need. But the honesty note matters more than the resonance here. Neither of these references appears in the Verifier's candidate list for this unit, so neither carries a computed lexical basis. The Malachi link rests on Cambridge's citation alone, and the 2 Corinthians link is cross-Testament, so it could not rest on shared Strong's numbers even if it were returned. Recorded as a lead to verify, not as an established link.

Malachi 3:10 · 2 Corinthians 9:8

basis: No Verifier-computed basis: neither Malachi 3:10 nor 2 Corinthians 9:8 appears among the thread candidates for this unit. The Malachi reference is Cambridge's own cross-reference at 31:10 and has not been checked for shared lexemes; the 2 Corinthians reference is Greek against Hebrew and so cannot carry a verbal basis at all. Provenance of the motif link is asserted, not confirmed.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The king who provides the offering out of his own property novel

⚙ The first fact of this unit is that the whole-burnt offerings were funded off the king's own estate. Ellicott: "The king gave the victims for the sacrifices prescribed in Numbers 28, 29, out of his own revenues." K&D says the same, and JFB grounds it in royal precedent from David and Solomon. What the ʻôlâh is matters here: the root means ascent, and nothing of it returns to the offerer, so this is the one item in the chapter's economy that costs without feeding. Hezekiah funds it from רְכוּשׁוֹ, his own gathered substance, at a moment when the people are too poor to bear it (Benson and Poole).

⚙ Read redemptive-historically, the figure is a king supplying from himself the sacrifice his people owe and cannot pay. Hebrews argues that Christ came to do God's will where sacrifice and offering had not sufficed, and offered Himself once for all; John the Baptist names Him the Lamb of God. The typological force is in the source of the victim, not in the act of giving money. This is our own reading of this text, not one recorded by any commentator in our sources, none of whom treats 31:3 christologically: mark it as ours and test it. The nearer scriptural anchor for the pattern is Genesis 22:8, where God provides the lamb He requires.

Hebrews 10:5-10 · John 1:29 · Genesis 22:8

Those who serve at the altar eat from the altar ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 4 states the purpose of the tithe in one purpose clause: pay the priests and Levites so that they may hold fast to the law of the LORD. Ellicott presses the verb to "stick fast," K&D to "hold themselves firmly," Geneva to minds unentangled with worldly provision, and Barnes to men not engaged in secular occupations but teaching God's law. Verse 10 then reports the system working: eating, being satisfied, leaving over.

⚙ Paul argues from exactly this arrangement in 1 Corinthians 9:13-14, reasoning from those who serve at the altar and share in the altar's offerings to the Lord's own command that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel. That is not a resonance we are constructing; it is an apostolic argument that takes the Levitical support system as its premise, and it makes this unit a working part of the New Testament's doctrine of ministry. The link is cross-Testament, so it cannot rest on shared Hebrew vocabulary and is not tiered as a verbal thread. Note also what the argument does not license: Azariah's surplus is disclosed as God's blessing (31:10), not as the priesthood's earnings, and Benson is careful to say the heaps were not hoarded out of covetousness.

1 Corinthians 9:13-14 · Nehemiah 13:10 · 2 Chronicles 31:4

Blessing that runs one way before it runs the other novel

⚙ The unit uses בָּרַךְ (bârak, H1288) twice in the Piel: in 31:8 men bless YHWH and His people, and in 31:10 YHWH has blessed His people. The order of discovery in the narrative is human blessing first, then divine; the order of cause, established by the kî of verse 10, is the reverse. Every commentator in the brief notices the difficulty of verse 8's single verb reaching both God and men, and each resolves it by splitting it into praise and prayer (Geneva, Gill, Benson, Poole).

⚙ Our reading is that verse 10 is what keeps verse 8 from being flattery: doxology is response, never initiative. Ephesians 1:3 holds the same two directions of blessing in one sentence, blessing God who has blessed us in Christ, and there the priority is explicit and christological. We offer this as a structural observation about the two verses, not as a reading recorded in any of our sources; the honest status is that the Hebrew supplies the repetition and the causal kî, and the rest is ours.

Ephesians 1:3 · 2 Chronicles 31:8 · 2 Chronicles 31:10

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Two real difficulties sit in this unit, and no English translation shows either to the reader. (1) At 31:6, מַעְשַׂר קָדָשִׁים, "a tithe of holy things." Ellicott calls it "a very surprising, as it is a wholly isolated, expression" and concludes "There is probably a lacuna in the text." K&D argues at length against Bertheau that the phrase is a loose designation for the heave-offerings of Numbers 18:19 and "differs only in expression from the prescription of the law." Ellicott and K&D also both address the Septuagint's ἐπιδέκατα αἰγῶν: Ellicott judges it "simply an old error of transcription" (αἰγῶν for ἀγίων), while K&D argues the Greek translators cannot have read a different consonantal text there. We have recorded both positions and settled neither. (2) At 31:10 the object marker אֶת־ (interlinear index 26) stands in a verbless clause. Cambridge says plainly that this apparently superfluous particle has troubled the translators and commentators. Ellicott, with Kamphausen, would emend to read "and there is left this great store"; K&D defends the text as animated speech. Nothing in our reading depends on which is right.

Interlinear ordering. The Berean interlinear rows for this unit are aligned to the BSB gloss order, not to Hebrew word order, and in three verses the result is visibly out of sequence: 31:3 lists the three occurrences of ʻôlâh at indices 6, 7 and 8 with the glosses distributed across them; 31:7 places "and they finished" (index 5) before "in the seventh month" (indices 6 and 7); 31:10 places the trailing object marker at index 26 after the participle at index 25. At 31:9 the preposition עַל־ appears as two rows (indices 4 and 5) for what is one word in the text. Our note keys follow the interlinear indices as supplied, but we have flagged each of these artefacts in the relevant note so that no reading is built on an alignment accident.

Sources and their disagreements. Eleven commentators are present in the brief; Henry's entry is a single note on the whole of 31:1-21 and therefore comments on the chapter's arc rather than on any verse's grammar, which is why it is cited once and for its summary rather than for detail. Three live disagreements are preserved rather than harmonised: the identity of dᵉbash at 31:5 (bee honey, with Pulpit, against dates or grape syrup, with Benson, Poole, Gill and Cambridge); the object of Hezekiah's question at 31:9, where K&D explicitly rules out the reading JFB and Barnes adopt and Pulpit offers a fourth; and the identity of Azariah at 31:10, where Barnes and Ellicott allow he may be the priest of 2 Chronicles 26:17 (Barnes calculating at least thirty-three years in office), K&D says "hardly," Cambridge suggests a recent appointment, and Poole and Pulpit question whether "chief priest of the house of Zadok" designates the high priest at all. Benson's and Poole's notes at 31:3, 31:5, 31:8 and 31:9 are close to identical in wording; Poole (1685) precedes Benson (1810s), so these should be treated as one line of interpretation, not two witnesses. One small error worth knowing: K&D's paraphrase of 31:8 reads "Hezekiah and the priests" where the Hebrew has הַשָּׂרִים, the officials. Gill's month names (Sivan, Tishri) come from the Targum, not from the Hebrew, which gives only ordinals.

What is ours and what is uncertain. The three-movement structure, the reading of the unit as a circuit from the king's portion to God's prior blessing, the observation that obedience is audited here by a leftover, and the two novel christological readings are all machine synthesis (⚙) and are marked as such. The Malachi 3:10 and 2 Corinthians 9:8 thread carries no Verifier-computed basis and is filed as flagged for that reason. Verse totals: eight verses (31:3 to 31:10), all with interlinear words, all covered.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)