What Does 1 Kings 16:20 Mean?
Now the rest of the words of Zimri, and the bond he bound together, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
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
Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?THE KEY
Treason is a binding together, and the verse keeps that binding and its deeds in the written record.
THE MEANING
The act and the conspiracy behind it remain legible beyond the moment in which they happen. The verse holds what is done together with how it is bound into a scheme.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a deed disappears once its moment passes is undone here: the verse says the act and its conspiracy remain written.
THE ROOT
קִשְׁרוֹ
qishro
GROWS FROM
קשר
To bind, tie, or join.
“the bond he bound together” in this verse is qishro. Here “treason” carries the deeper image of a binding: the Hebrew noun and verb repeat the root קשר, so the plot is a joined arrangement. Elsewhere the same root describes one life bound to another; the root names the bond, while context reveals what that bond serves.
ALSO GROWS
qashar: To bind or tie; also, to conspire.
קָשַׁר
The verse repeats this verb for the conspiracy, presenting the plot as a binding arrangement.
qeshurah: Bound or attached.
קְשׁוּרָה
In Genesis, this form describes one life bound to another, showing that the same root can name attachment as well as conspiracy.
THE PATTERN
A written record carries deeds, words, and events beyond the moment in which they occur.
Now the rest of the words of Hezekiah, and his faithful love, behold, they are written in the sight of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.Then those who stand in awe of the LORD spoke, each one to his neighbor, and the LORD bent his ear and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written before his face for those in awe of the LORD, who reckon his name.Since many have set their hands to arranging in order a narrative of the matters fully borne among us,THE THREAD
And now, when I come to your servant, my father, and the lad is not with us, since his living soul is bound up in the lad's living soul.The Hebrew behind “bound up” comes from the same root, קשר, as the word rendered “treason” in 1 Kings. In Genesis the bond joins two lives in attachment; here it joins people into a conspiracy, the root names the bond, and the context reveals its nature.
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