What Does 1 Kings 13:23 Mean?
And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
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 it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb for “saddled” also means to bind or bandage, joining the fitting of a beast to carry someone with the binding of a wound.
THE MEANING
A return becomes tangible: after bread and drink, the one who brought the prophet back fits the donkey to carry him onward. The verb translated “saddled” also carries the sense of binding or wrapping, a word used elsewhere for binding wounds. The meal ends, but the journey continues through a prepared bearer.
THE ROOT
וַיַּחֲבֹשׁ
wayyaḥăḇōš
GROWS FROM
חבש
To bind or wrap; also to saddle an animal or bind up a wound.
English “saddled” sounds like one narrow act of fitting tack. The Hebrew root חבש (ḥāḇaš, to bind or wrap) also names binding a wound, so preparing a carrier and tending an injury share the same verbal seed.
ALSO GROWS
saddled: Fitted an animal to carry a rider or load.
The same verb appears when Abraham prepares his donkey for a journey in Genesis 22:3.
bound up: Wrapped or tended a wound.
The same root describes wounds left untended in Isaiah 1:6 and wounds bound up in Psalm 147:3.
THE PATTERN
The Hebrew root חבש (ḥāḇaš, to bind or wrap) connects fitting an animal to carry a burden with binding up an injury.
And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the rising offering, and rose, and went to the place of which God had said to him.From the sole of the foot to the head there is no unbroken place in it, but wounds, welts, and fresh blows. They have not been closed, nor bound up, nor softened with oil.He mends the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.THE THREAD
And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the rising offering, and rose, and went to the place of which God had said to him.Genesis uses the same Hebrew verb חבש (ḥāḇaš, to bind or saddle) when Abraham saddles his donkey. The shared word makes the preparation for travel visible: in 1 Kings, the animal is fitted to carry the prophet after the meal and return.
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