What Does 1 Kings 12:23 Mean?
Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,
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
Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,THE KEY
Even the remnant is inside the word’s address: it reaches the ruler, the households, and those who remain.
THE MEANING
The word reaches the one holding authority, the households, and the people who remain; its address does not end at the ruler. Solomon’s name carries the root of wholeness while the verse names separate houses and a remnant. Wholeness stays within the address even where the people are named in parts.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that those left over are outside the word’s reach is undone here: the remnant is named as part of the audience.
THE ROOT
יֶתֶר
yeter
GROWS FROM
יתר
y-t-r
To remain over, be left, or exceed.
The word for the remnant belongs to a root that also names what remains as more or gain. Those who remain are not outside the address; they are included in its reach.
ALSO GROWS
yoter: More; remaining.
יוֹתֵר
It shows the root can describe what is still present, not only what has been discarded.
yitron: Gain, advantage, or profit.
יִתְרוֹן
This branch reveals that what remains can carry value; the remnant is still part of the people being addressed.
דַּבֵּר
dabber
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; the same consonants form davar, meaning word, matter, or thing.
Hebrew keeps speech and the matter called a davar within one consonantal family. The verse’s “speak” is an address with a subject and a reach: it is directed to the ruler, the houses, and the people who remain.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The shared root holds the spoken word and the matter it carries together.
dibber: Spoke or addressed.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal form makes clear that speech reaches someone; here, the audience extends beyond the ruler.
שְׁלֹמֹה
Shelomoh
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole, complete, or sound; Solomon’s name carries this root-family through shalom.
The verse names Rehoboam as Solomon’s son, placing a name tied to wholeness beside separate houses and a remnant. Wholeness remains present in the language even while the people are named in parts.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness or well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
It makes the wholeness carried in Solomon’s name audible in the verse.
shalem: Whole or complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch echoes the possibility of wholeness within an address that includes divided groups.
THE PATTERN
A word can include every side of a division and restrain conflict before it becomes action.
And Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Turn back each man to his house, for this word is from me. So they heard and responded to the word of the LORD, and turned back to go away, according to the word of the LORD.If it is possible, as far as your reach extends, live in wholeness with all people.THE THREAD
By the word of the LORD the heavens are made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.The command “speak” (דַּבֵּר, dabber) and Psalm’s “word” (דָּבָר, davar) share the root דבר. Psalm presents the word as creative speech; here, speech is sent across the ruler, the houses, and the remnant, so its reach includes the whole audience.
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