What Does 1 Kings 13:26 Mean?
And when the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard of it, he said, This is the man of God, who rebelled against the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has given him over to the lion, which has torn him and put him to death, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke to him.
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 when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.THE KEY
Hebrew lets the LORD’s “word” mean both what is spoken and what comes to pass, so the lion’s violence stands inside the word’s fulfillment.
THE MEANING
The reader meets a word whose force reaches into bodily events: the LORD gives the man to the lion, and the lion tears him and kills him. The prophet names that death as the LORD’s act, in keeping with the word spoken to the man.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The spoken word is only sound, safely separate from what happens.
THE ROOT
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; a word, matter, or thing.
The verse closes with “the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him”: Hebrew links the word and the act of speaking through the same root. Because davar can also name a matter or thing, the word is not merely speech outside the event; it can name what comes to pass.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The word spoken to the man can also name the matter that unfolds.
dibber: Spoke.
דִּבֶּר
The verse joins “word” and “spake” through the same root, where English uses separate words.
וַיִּתְּנֵהוּ
wayyittenehu
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, put, or set.
“given over” in this verse is wayyittenehu. The Hebrew verb says the LORD “gave him” to the lion. It presents a handing over, not an accidental encounter; the English “delivered” carries that transfer into the scene.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
The same root of giving can describe a gift; here, the man is given to the lion.
natan: Give, put, or set.
נָתַן
This base verb makes the force of “delivered” concrete: the man is placed in the lion’s reach.
מָרָה
marah
GROWS FROM
מרה
To rebel or resist.
The Hebrew says the man rebelled against the LORD’s mouth, a sharper image than a simple failure to comply. That rebellion stands beside the repeated language of the LORD’s word, making the passage’s account of the consequence stark.
ALSO GROWS
marah: To rebel.
מָרָה
This verb names the man’s opposition to what the LORD spoke.
meri: Rebellion.
מְרִי
The related noun makes the stance explicit: the verse describes rebellion, not an accidental lapse.
THE PATTERN
A word spoken by the LORD carries its force into the events it names.
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.And the LORD said to me, You have seen well, for I keep watch over my word to do it.For the word of God is living and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching through even to the dividing of living soul and breath, of joints and marrow, and it separates the inward movements and thoughts of the heart.THE THREAD
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.Both verses use דָּבָר (davar, “word”) for what the LORD speaks. Isaiah says the word accomplishes what it is sent to do; 1 Kings shows the consequence as a lion’s tearing and death, holding the passage’s full severity.
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