What Does 1 Chronicles 11:17 Mean?
And David craved, and said, "Oh that someone would give me a drink from the waters of the well of Bethlehem, the one at the gate!"
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Beth-lehem, that is at the gate!THE KEY
At Bethlehem, the “house of bread,” David longs for water from one particular well: desire knows the difference between abundance and the thing that answers its thirst.
THE MEANING
Your longing often has this same precision: not water in general, but the drink tied to a particular well and place. The verse holds need as bodily and relational: the one who longs can name the source, yet still must receive the water from another.
THE ROOT
יַשְׁקֵנִי
yashqeni
GROWS FROM
שקה
š-q-h
To give drink, water, or cause someone to drink.
“give me drink” in this verse is yashqeni. The verb does not simply say David drinks; he asks who will give him drink. Its family includes the one who waters and the cupbearer, so Hebrew keeps provision relational: thirst is met by someone else’s act.
ALSO GROWS
hishqah: Watered; caused to drink.
הִשְׁקָה
This is the same root used when Jacob waters Laban’s flock, showing the verb’s movement from one person’s thirst to another’s act of provision.
mashqeh: A drink; a cupbearer or one who serves drink.
מַשְׁקֶה
The root names both the drink and the person who serves it, keeping the giver present inside the language of receiving.
וַיִּתְאָו
vayit'av
GROWS FROM
אוה
ʾ-w-h
To desire, yearn, or crave.
“craved” in this verse is vayit'av. This root can name craving as well as yearning, so “longed” carries more than a passing thought: it is wanting with appetite in it. David’s desire is precise and embodied, he wants water from a particular well.
ALSO GROWS
ta'avah: Desire, appetite, or craving.
תַּאֲוָה
This noun makes the bodily edge of David’s longing audible: what he wants is not abstract but something his thirst can receive.
ivvitikha: I longed for you.
אִוִּיתִיךָ
Isaiah uses this same root for longing directed toward God, showing how the word can carry desire from physical need into deep personal yearning.
THE PATTERN
Thirst makes provision relational: water reaches the thirsty through the hands that carry it.
And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob drew near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and gave drink to the flock of Laban his mother's brother.Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters, and whoever has no silver, come, break open and eat. Yes, come, break open wine and milk, without silver and without price.On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.THE THREAD
And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob drew near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and gave drink to the flock of Laban his mother's brother.Jacob’s “watered” comes from the same שקה root as David’s request to be given drink. In one verse the thirsty one receives; in the other someone becomes the one who makes others drink, showing two sides of the same root.
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