Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Chronicles 5:14 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 14. 14So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition: “So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Unified music precedes the filling cloud.”
Courses pause so that all present priests can serve
This verse is one part of that explanation in 2 Chronicles 5:11–14. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 2 Chronicles 5:11–14
Read 2 Chronicles 5:14 with 5:11–14. The selected wording supplies one closing in the thought unit with its stated result or transition; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Sanctified priests, Levitical singers, instruments, and one hundred twenty trumpeters praise enduring mercy until a cloud fills the house and halts priestly service.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Unified music precedes the filling cloud,” 2 Chronicles 5:14 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The divine glory interrupts the carefully organized human performance, keeping temple personnel from controlling the presence they celebrate. 2 Chronicles 5:1–10 has just established this prior movement: David's dedicated goods enter the treasury, Israel assembles, Levites and priests carry the ark and tabernacle vessels, sacrifices abound, and the covenant tablets rest beneath the cherubim. Together those details explain why “Unified music precedes the filling cloud” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.
Read 2 Chronicles 5:11–14 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Chronicles 5:11–14 forms the complete movement “Unified music precedes the filling cloud”: Sanctified priests, Levitical singers, instruments, and one hundred twenty trumpeters praise enduring mercy until a cloud fills the house and halts priestly service.
Verse 11. 11 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course:
Verse 12. 12 Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)
Verse 13. 13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;
Verse 14. 14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
Follow the Context
- Sanctified priests, Levitical singers, instruments, and one hundred twenty trumpeters praise enduring mercy until a cloud fills the house and halts priestly service.
- The divine glory interrupts the carefully organized human performance, keeping temple personnel from controlling the presence they celebrate.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Chronicles 5:14 does not permit the wording “So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. Musical unity does not manufacture divine presence, prove every emotional service miraculous, or silence conscientious difference.
What Remains True
Worship and wisdom remain accountable to covenant, labor, outsiders, resources, and God's freedom; sacred scale never makes royal power or a building immune from review. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Sanctified priests, Levitical singers, instruments, and one hundred twenty trumpeters praise enduring mercy until a cloud fills the house and halts priestly service. In 2 Chronicles 5:14, the concrete line “So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Teach It Back
Explain why 2 Chronicles 5:14 ends ordinary priestly service beneath the weight of divine glory. Use 5:11–14, paraphrase “So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 2 Chronicles 5:11–14 — Unified music precedes the filling cloudSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The narrative interprets the cloud theologically; historical inquiry cannot reproduce its physical mechanism, and the numbers may serve ceremonial rhetoric.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Chronicles 5:11–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 5:11–14
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 2 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 2 Chronicles 5:11–14, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗