Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of 1 Chronicles
Chapter 29: Of Thine Own Have We Given Thee
The book closes in worship. Leaders and people give willingly and joyfully for the temple, and David lifts up one of the noblest prayers in Scripture: 'Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory... all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.' Solomon is made king, and David, the shepherd-king after God's own heart, dies in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour. First Chronicles ends as it began, pointing to the God of the covenant and the King who is to come.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of 1 Chronicles chapter 29, the final chapter of the book. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Thine, O LORD, Is the Greatness (1 Chronicles 29:9-14)
The people give willingly, and David blesses God in a prayer that gives Him all the glory.
All Things Come of Thee
"Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy. Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee."
Word Study
"offered willingly," Hebrew hitnaddev (הִתְנַדֵּב), to give freely, to volunteer, to offer as a freewill gift. The giving for the temple is marked by two beautiful words: it was "willing" (hitnaddev, freely offered) and it came "with perfect heart" (lev shalem, a whole, undivided heart), and the result was joy, "the people rejoiced... and David the king also rejoiced with great joy." Freewill, wholehearted giving produces gladness. Then David breaks into a doxology that is among the grandest in all Scripture: "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty... thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all." This ascription lies behind the closing words of the Lord's Prayer, "thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory." Everything belongs to God, and He is the source of all: "both riches and honour come of thee... in thine hand it is to make great." The climax is the profound humility of verse 14: "who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly... for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." This is the heart of true worship, we can give God nothing that was not first His gift. Even our giving is His grace; we only return to Him what His hand supplied.
Explanation
When the leaders and people gave generously and wholeheartedly for the temple, everyone rejoiced, and David was filled with great joy. He then praised God before the whole assembly in a magnificent prayer, declaring that all greatness, power, glory, and majesty belong to the LORD, that everything in heaven and earth is His, that He reigns over all and is the source of all riches, honour, and strength. He thanked and praised God's glorious name, and then humbly acknowledged the deepest truth about their giving: they had nothing to offer that God had not first given them. "All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." Their generosity was itself a gift of God's grace.
Gospel Focus
David's prayer teaches us how to worship and how to give. First, giving to God should be willing and wholehearted, for "God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7), and such giving overflows in joy. Second, all glory belongs to God alone: "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory... thine is the kingdom," the very words that crown the prayer our Lord taught us. And third, the humbling truth that undergirds all Christian stewardship: "of thine own have we given thee." We can give God nothing that was not first His; "what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" (1 Corinthians 4:7). Even our ability to give is His gift, so our giving is never a favor to God but a grateful returning of His own bounty. This crushes all pride and fills the heart with wonder: that God should let us, out of what He supplied, offer anything to Him at all. And it points to the gospel, for the greatest gift was God's own, His Son, "thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15). We love because He first loved us; we give because He first gave to us. Offer willingly, with a perfect heart, and give God all the glory, for all things come of Him, and of His own do we give to Him.
David Dies in a Good Old Age (1 Chronicles 29:28-30)
David dies full of days and honour, and Solomon reigns; the shepherd-king's story is complete.
Full of Days, Riches, and Honour
"And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead. Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer, With all his reign and his might, and the times that went over him, and over Israel, and over all the kingdoms of the countries."
Word Study
"full of days," Hebrew seva yamim (שְׂבַע יָמִים), satisfied with days, having lived a full life. David "died in a good old age, full of days (seva yamim, satisfied with life), riches, and honour." The phrase describes not merely long life but a life that reached its God-given fullness, like Abraham and Isaac before him (Genesis 25:8; 35:29). Whatever David's sorrows and failures, God brought him to a good and honoured end, and the covenant passed on: "Solomon his son reigned in his stead." The throne God had promised to establish continued unbroken. The Chronicler notes that David's full story, "first and last," was recorded by the prophets Samuel, Nathan, and Gad, the very men who had anointed, rebuked, and guided him. Notice the phrase "the times that went over him", the seasons, trials, and providences that had passed over David's life. His had been a life of shepherd fields and giant-slaying, of exile and enthronement, of grievous sin and deep repentance, of war and worship. And through all "the times that went over him," God had been faithful, bringing him from the sheepfold to a throne and to a good old age. The shepherd-king after God's own heart finished his course.
Explanation
David died at a ripe old age, having lived a full life blessed with riches and honour, and his son Solomon succeeded him as king, just as God had promised. The Chronicler notes that the complete record of David's reign, from beginning to end, along with all that happened to him and to Israel, was written in the accounts of the prophets Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. So the story of David, Israel's greatest earthly king, comes to a peaceful and honoured close, and the kingdom passes securely to Solomon, continuing the covenant line toward the promised Messiah.
Gospel Focus
That David died "in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour" shows the faithfulness of God to His servant across a long and eventful life. Through "the times that went over him", every trial, victory, sin, and mercy, God never let go of David, and brought him to a satisfied end. So God is faithful to keep His own to the end: "being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Yet even David, the best of Israel's kings, died, and his throne passed to another; he "fell on sleep... and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption" (Acts 13:36). Peter preached at Pentecost that David "is both dead and buried," but that he was a prophet who foresaw the resurrection of the Christ, the Son of David, saying "his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption" (Acts 2:29-31). David's honoured death points beyond itself to the greater Son of David, Jesus, who died and rose and lives for evermore, and whose kingdom, unlike David's, is handed to no successor because it never ends. First Chronicles closes David's story to open the way for the King it has been pointing to all along. Live faithfully through all the times that go over you, trusting the God who kept David, and rest your hope in the risen Son of David who reigns for ever.
The First Book of the Chronicles Complete
With chapter 29 the First Book of Chronicles is complete, all twenty-nine chapters. The book began with nine chapters of genealogies reaching back to Adam, a patient tracing of God's covenant faithfulness through generations, narrowing to Judah, to David, and to the line of the promise, even carrying it through the exile to those who returned. To a people rebuilding after Babylon, these names were proof that God had kept His word and that the hope of the Messiah still stood. From the death of Saul the book turned to David: anointed by all Israel, taking Zion, bringing up the ark with joy after the sober lesson of Uzza, receiving the everlasting covenant that his throne would be established for ever, and ordering the worship of God with priests, Levites, singers, and gatekeepers.
One theme sounds through the whole book: the worship of the one true God at the center of the life of His people. David's great desire was to seek the LORD whom Saul had neglected, to bring the ark home, to prepare a house for God, and to leave his son charged to "know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart." The book ends, fittingly, in worship, with willing gifts, great joy, and the noble prayer, "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness... all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." David, the shepherd-king after God's own heart, who prepared a house he would never see and pointed always beyond himself, is a shining picture of Jesus Christ, the true Son of David, the Good Shepherd, the King whose throne is established for evermore, and the builder of the true temple of God. To the one God, the LORD who is exalted as head above all, made known to us in Jesus Christ our Saviour, be all the greatness, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Chapter in Review
First Chronicles 29 brings the book to a close in worship. The leaders and people give willingly and with a perfect heart for the temple, and their generosity overflows in joy. David responds with one of the grandest prayers in Scripture, ascribing to God all greatness, power, glory, and kingdom, and confessing the humbling truth that "all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." Solomon is made king, and David dies "in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour," his throne passing securely to his son and the covenant line continuing. The chapter, and the whole book, exalts wholehearted, joyful giving, gives all glory to the one true God, and celebrates God's covenant faithfulness through the life of David, pointing beyond the shepherd-king who died to the risen Son of David, Jesus Christ, whose kingdom shall never end.
Key Takeaways
- Give willingly and wholeheartedly. The people offered with a perfect heart and rejoiced; God loves a cheerful giver.
- Give God all the glory. "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness... thine is the kingdom"; He is exalted as head above all.
- All we give is His own. "Of thine own have we given thee"; our giving is a grateful returning of His gifts.
- God is faithful through all our times. He brought David through every season to a good and honoured end.
- David points to Christ. The shepherd-king died and passed on his throne; the risen Son of David reigns for ever.
Questions for Reflection
- Is your giving to God willing, wholehearted, and joyful, or grudging and reluctant?
- Do you give God all the glory, or quietly keep some for yourself?
- Have you grasped that all you offer God is only His own returning to Him?
- Can you trust God's faithfulness through all "the times that go over you"?
- Is your hope anchored in the risen Son of David, whose kingdom will never pass to another?
References
- Scripture: 1 Chronicles 29:1-30, King James Version (commentary focuses on verses 9-14 and 28-30).
- Cross-references: Genesis 25:8; 35:29; Matthew 6:13; Acts 2:29-31; 13:36; 1 Corinthians 4:7; 2 Corinthians 9:7, 15; Philippians 1:6.
- Hebrew word meanings: standard lexical sources (Strong's, BDB) for hitnaddev, lev shalem, and seva yamim; background on David's doxology, the succession of Solomon, and the death of David.