What Does 1 Kings 1:42 Mean?
While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said to him, Come in, for you are a man of strength, and you bring good news.
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 while he yet spake, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said unto him, Come in; for thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings.THE KEY
Adonijah treats Jonathan’s reputation as if it could prewrite a message he has not yet heard.
THE MEANING
You can trust a messenger’s character and still mistake your expectation for the report itself. Adonijah calls Jonathan a bearer of good tidings before hearing what he carries, so hope briefly sounds like certainty. Jonathan’s name means “the LORD has given,” placing the idea of a gift inside a scene where the news will unsettle the hearer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A trustworthy messenger will bring news that confirms what I want.
THE ROOT
בְּשׂוֹרָה
besorah
GROWS FROM
בשר
Announce or bear news.
“bring good news” in this verse is besorah. The Hebrew repeats the בשר root in both “good tidings” and “bringest,” tying the message to the act of announcing it. The root marks the bearing of news; the surrounding words and the report itself tell whether it is welcome.
ALSO GROWS
tevaser: You announce or bring tidings.
תְבַשֵּׂר
This verb repeats the root in the verse, joining the announced message to the messenger’s action.
ha-mevasser: The news-bearer or messenger.
הַמְבַשֵּׂר
The same root can name the bearer of devastating news, showing that a messenger’s arrival does not tell you how the report will feel.
יְהוֹנָתָן
Yehonatan
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place.
“Jonathan” in this verse is Yehonatan. Yehonatan carries the sense “the LORD has given.” His name makes giving part of the messenger’s nature, even as the hearer assumes he knows what the message will bring.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This verb supplies the giving at the center of Jonathan’s name.
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun makes the name’s sense of giving concrete.
THE PATTERN
A message’s impact comes from what it announces, while the hearer’s expectation can arrive before the message does.
And the messenger answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and a great blow has also come among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, who makes wholeness heard, who brings good news of good, who makes deliverance heard, who says to Zion, Your God governs.And the messenger said to them, Do not be afraid, for look, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people.THE THREAD
And the messenger answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and a great blow has also come among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.This verse uses the Hebrew word הַמְבַשֵּׂר (ha-mevasser, the news-bearer), from בשר (bāśar, announce or bear news), the same root echoed by “good tidings” and “bringest” here. The root names the carrying of news; its content can comfort or devastate.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us