📖WEB · 1 Chronicles 29:16
What does 1 Chronicles 29:16 mean?
"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."
— 1 Chronicles 29:16 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
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.
Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this desire forever in the thoughts of the heart of your people, and prepare their heart for you;
and give to Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for which I have made provision.”
Explanation
This verse comes from King David's public prayer near the end of his life, offered in the presence of the assembled leaders of Israel after they had brought forward enormous gifts of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and precious stones for the building of the temple. David himself had contributed vast personal wealth, and the people had responded with overwhelming generosity. In this moment of triumph, rather than taking pride in what had been accomplished, David turns the entire achievement back to God, acknowledging that everything given ultimately came from God in the first place.
The plain meaning of the verse is straightforward: David is saying that all the wealth and materials gathered for building the temple did not originate with human effort or resources. It came "from your hand" — meaning it was God who provided it — and therefore it still belongs to God, not to Israel or to David. Even the act of giving it back to God for his house is, in a sense, simply returning to God what was already his.
The context is 1 Chronicles 29, where David, having been barred from building the temple himself because he was a man of war, has spent his final years gathering resources for his son Solomon to complete the task. Chapter 29 records the freewill offerings of the leaders and people, followed by David's prayer of blessing and worship (verses 10-19). This prayer represents the theological climax of David's life's work — a recognition that the entire project, from resources to opportunity, rests on God's provision rather than human achievement.
Theologically, this verse expresses a core biblical truth: God is the source of all things, and human beings are stewards, not owners, of what they possess. Noth
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.