📖WEB · 1 Chronicles 29:14
What does 1 Chronicles 29:14 mean?
"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you."
— 1 Chronicles 29:14 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Yours, Yahweh, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty! For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, Yahweh, and you are exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all! In your hand is power and might! It is in your hand to make great, and to give strength to all!
Now therefore, our God, we thank you, and praise your glorious name.
But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.
For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.
Yahweh our God, all this store that we have prepared to build you a house for your holy name comes from your hand, and is all your own.
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things. Now I have seen with joy your people, who are present here, offer willingly to you.
Explanation
This verse comes from King David's public prayer near the end of his life, spoken during the great assembly he gathered to prepare Israel for the building of the Temple. David himself had already contributed vast personal wealth of gold, silver, bronze, and precious stones toward the project, and in response the leaders of the tribes, officials, and people had likewise given generously and willingly. Overwhelmed by this outpouring, David breaks into prayer and praise before God, and this verse is the heart of his humble acknowledgment: neither he nor the people had any inherent right to boast about their giving, because everything they possessed originally came from God in the first place.
In plain language, David is asking a rhetorical question meant to deflate any pride: "Who are we, and what is our nation, that we could give so freely?" His answer follows immediately — the offering wasn't really theirs to begin with. Whatever gold, silver, or resources they had all originated with God as the Creator and sustainer of all things. So when they gave it back to Him for the Temple, they were simply returning what already belonged to Him.
Theologically, this verse expresses a foundational biblical truth about stewardship and divine ownership. Nothing human beings have — wealth, talent, time, even life itself — is self-generated or self-owned. It is all a gift from God, entrusted to people for a time. Therefore, any act of generosity toward God's purposes is not a transaction in which humans give God something He lacks, but a grateful response of returning to Him a portion of what He has already supplied. This guards against pride, reminding worshippers that
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