What Does 1 Kings 10:5 Mean?

And the savory food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the standing of his attendants, and their garments, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of the LORD; there was no more breath in her.

1 Kings 10:5 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

THE KEY

The word rendered “spirit” is ⁨רוּחַ⁩ (ruach, breath and moving air), so the verse makes wonder feel like the breath itself has left her.

THE MEANING

You see provision, service, presentation, and worship assembled before you, and the sight leaves you breathless. Wonder reaches into the life within you before you can shape a response.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that astonishment is only a thought: the verse gives it a bodily depth, describing the breath itself as gone.

THE ROOT

רוּחַ

ruach

GROWS FROM

רוּחַ

ruach

to blow; moving air, breath

The Hebrew line uses ⁨רוּחַ⁩ (ruach, breath and moving air) for what the KJV renders “spirit.” The word also names wind, making her astonishment bodily: the breath within her seems to leave.

ALSO GROWS

ruach: breath; wind

רוּחַ

Genesis 8:1 uses the same word for wind moving over the earth, holding inward breath and moving air together.

ruachot: winds

רוּחוֹת

Jeremiah 49:36 uses the plural for the four winds, extending the same root to movement coming from every quarter.

THE PATTERN

An overwhelming encounter shows itself through the body’s loss of breath, strength, or ability to stand.

And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites on the western side of Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, their heart melted, and no breath remained in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

Joshua 5:1 · SDVThe report leaves the kings with melted hearts and no spirit, using the body’s collapse to show the force of what they hear.

And I was left alone, and I saw this great sight, and no strength remained in me. For my splendor was turned in me into a pit, and I held no strength.

Daniel 10:8 · SDVAfter seeing the vision, Daniel says no strength remains; the encounter reaches his body before he can explain it.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he set his right hand upon me, saying, Do not be struck with awe. I am the first and the last.

Revelation 1:17 · SDVSeeing him, the speaker falls as dead; his body gives the measure of the vision’s overwhelming force.

THE THREAD

Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

Ezekiel 37:5 · SDV

Ezekiel uses the same word, ⁨רוּחַ⁩ (ruach, breath and moving air), for the breath that enters lifeless bones. Here the breath seems to leave a viewer in wonder; there, it enters the bones and they live.

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