What Does 1 Kings 17:11 Mean?
And as she was going to bring it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand.
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 as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.THE KEY
What English splits into “fetch” and “Bring” is one Hebrew verb, לָקַחַת / לִקְחִי (lāqaḥat / liqḥî, “to take”): the verse puts taking and bringing inside the same action.
THE MEANING
When you are already moving to answer one need, another request can meet you on the way. The hand holds only a morsel of bread, so scarcity and the request for provision remain together in this moment.
THE ROOT
לָקַחַת
lāqaḥat
GROWS FROM
לקח
l-q-ḥ
Take, fetch, receive.
The Hebrew repeats the root לקח (l-q-ḥ, “take”): she goes לָקַחַת (lāqaḥat, “to take/fetch”), and Elijah says לִקְחִי (liqḥî, “take”) for him. English separates these as “fetch” and “Bring,” concealing how the same verb carries the movement from going to get bread to carrying it for another.
ALSO GROWS
leqiḥah: Taking, acquisition.
לְקִיחָה
This noun grows from the same root and names the act of taking; the verse repeats that act in both her errand and Elijah’s request.
lāqūaḥ: Taken, received.
לָקוּחַ
This form shows the root from the receiving side, echoing the movement from taking bread to having it received by another.
וַיִּקְרָא
wayyiqra
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
Call out, summon, proclaim; also read aloud.
“called” in this verse is wayyiqra. This root holds calling aloud and reading aloud in the same word-family. Elijah’s call reaches her while she is already moving, and the request for bread emerges through that interruption.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: Reading aloud; assembly or convocation.
מִקְרָא
The word can name a public reading or a gathering summoned together; here, a spoken call draws her into the next exchange.
qeriʾah: Calling, cry, reading aloud.
קְרִיאָה
This noun keeps the voice and its summons visible: the request begins as a call that catches her mid-errand.
THE PATTERN
Provision moves from what is held or available toward another person’s need, even when scarcity remains visible.
And she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she, and he, and her house, ate for many days.And they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them among all, as each one had need.But through evenness, that in this present season your overflow may fill their lack, and their overflow may fill your lack, that there may be evenness.THE THREAD
And I will take a morsel of bread, and prop up your hearts. After that you shall pass on, for therefore you have crossed over to your servant. And they said, So you shall make it, as you have spoken.Genesis 18:5 also uses the Hebrew take-verb for “fetch” and repeats the phrase “a morsel of bread.” The shared root and phrase make Abraham’s offer echo this request, showing the same movement toward bread in a scene of hospitality.
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