What Does 1 Kings 13:32 Mean?

For the word that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.

1 Kings 13:32 · 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

For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

THE KEY

The Hebrew holds the spoken word and the thing that will be as one movement: the declaration is already bound to its fulfillment.

THE MEANING

When the altar and high places seem established, the word spoken against them still stands on its way to fulfillment. The Hebrew joins “word” with a doubled form of “be,” holding the declaration and its coming to pass together. The verse states its verdict plainly.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie this undoes is that what is already established is beyond the reach of the word spoken against it.

THE ROOT

הַדָּבָר

hadavar

GROWS FROM

ד־ב־ר

d-b-r

Word, matter, thing; the related verb means to speak.

The same Hebrew word appears first as “saying” and then as “word.” Davar can also mean a matter or thing, bringing the spoken declaration and the matter it names into one semantic field.

ALSO GROWS

davar: Word, matter, thing

דָּבָר

This is the word translated both “saying” and “word” here, joining speech with the matter being declared.

dibber: Spoke

דִּבֵּר

The related verb makes the connection between the word and the act of speaking explicit.

הָיֹה יִהְיֶה

hayoh yihyeh

GROWS FROM

ה־י־ה

h-y-h

To be, become, happen.

“shall surely come to pass” in this verse is hayoh yihyeh. The Hebrew repeats the root of “be” in an emphatic construction: literally, “being, it will be.” Fulfillment is expressed as certainty of being, rather than mere possibility.

ALSO GROWS

hayah: Be, become, happen

הָיָה

This is the root’s basic sense, underneath the verse’s promise that the word will come to be.

yihyeh: He/it will be

יִהְיֶה

This form appears in the verse’s emphatic phrase, making the promised fulfillment a matter of what will be.

THE PATTERN

A word from God does not remain detached speech; it reaches the event it declares.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Genesis 1:3 · SDVThe spoken word is immediately followed by what it declares: light is, as the word permits it to be.

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.

Isaiah 55:11 · SDVThe word goes forth and accomplishes what it is sent to do, expressing the same movement from declaration to fulfillment.

For with God nothing will be impossible.

Luke 1:37 · SDVThe Greek phrase includes rhēma, “word” or “utterance,” linking what is spoken by God with what can come to be.

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.

Isaiah 55:11 · SDV

Isaiah uses the same Hebrew word, davar, for “word” and describes it going out to accomplish its purpose. That makes explicit the movement held compactly in this verse: the word spoken against the altar is bound to what will be.

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