Skip to content
mannafest.faith

1 Chronicles 15:12

in 1 Chronicles 15

And he said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves so that you may bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it.

KJV

And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it.

This verse in 1 Chronicles 15

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
And he said unto them, ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites,.... Of the families of the Levites, heads of their fathers' houses: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren; respectively under each, whose numbers are before given, by washing their bodies and clothes, and abstaining from their wives: that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it; 2Sa 6:17.

This site's exposition

called for Zadok and Abiathar

on 1 Chronicles 15:11-12

David summons the two priests and the six family heads just numbered, and charges them to sanctify themselves before the ark is touched again. Nothing like this charge to sanctify is recorded before the ark went out on the cart in chapter 13; the ceremonial cleansing named here is new to this second attempt. The men addressed are called the chief of the fathers of the Levites, the same standing the roster of verses 4 through 10 has just established, so the command falls on named men rather than an anonymous class.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

9 ): therefore sanctify yourselves, and mind your business." When those that have suffered for doing ill thus learn to do better the correction is well bestowed. The Levites and priests sanctified themselves (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+odd-straight-quotes

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

sanctify yourselves--This special sanctification, which was required on all grave and important occasions, consisted in observing the strictest abstinence, as well as cleanliness, both in person and dress (see on Ge 35:2;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

To hakhinoti lo. This means: to the place asher hakhinoti lo (=that I have prepared for it).
Radak: Provence, 1160–1235 · Radak on I Chronicles 15:12:1, via Sefaria, The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For the first time not you ( ki le-ma-ba-rishonah lo attem ).
Radak: Provence, 1160–1235 · Radak on I Chronicles 15:13:1, via Sefaria, The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • לָהֶ֔םto them

    lahem

  • אַתֶּ֛םyou

    ʾatemH8591094 times

  • רָאשֵׁ֥י[are] [the] chiefs of

    rasheiH7218599 times

  • הָאָב֖וֹתthe fathers

    haavotH11212 times

  • לַלְוִיִּ֑םof the Levites

    lalviyimH3881291 times

  • הִֽתְקַדְּשׁוּ֙consecrate yourselves

    hitkadeshuH6942171 times

  • אַתֶּ֣םyou

    ʾatemH8591094 times

  • וַאֲחֵיכֶ֔םand relatives your

    vaacheikhemH251630 times

  • וְהַֽעֲלִיתֶ֗םand you will bring up

    vehaalitemH5927890 times

  • אֵ֣ת<obj.>

    ʾetH85310935 times

  • אֲר֤וֹן[the] ark of

    ʾaronH727202 times

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֱלֹהֵ֣י[the] God of

    ʾeloheiH4302601 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הֲכִינ֖וֹתִי[where] I have prepared

    hakhinotiH3559217 times

  • לֽוֹ׃for it

    lo

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 30:15

    And on the fourteenth day of the second month they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 29:34

      However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had been consecrated. For the Levites had…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 35:6

    Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your fellow countrymen to carry out the word of the LORD given by Moses.”

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 29:15

      When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to cleanse the house of the LORD, according to the command of the king by the words of the LORD.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Chronicles 29:5

      “Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity.

    • Hebrews 9:13–14

      For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,

    • Exodus 12:21–22

      Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb.

    • 2 Chronicles 30:15–19

      And on the fourteenth day of the second month they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.

  • Through

    1 Chronicles 15:14

    So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 10:3

      Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I…

    • Joel 2:16–17

      Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.

About 1 Chronicles

Cedars Are Cut Down for the Jerusalem Temple, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Cedars Are Cut Down for the Jerusalem Temple, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.