What Does 1 Kings 17:14 Mean?
For thus says the LORD God of Israel, the jar of meal shall not run out, nor shall the flask of oil run short, until the day the LORD sends rain upon the ground.
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
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.THE KEY
Provision holds through the whole interval of waiting, until the day rain is given.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into the stretch before relief arrives: provision remains present while the rain has not yet come. Its promise gives the waiting a boundary, holding the meal and oil through the interval.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the assumption that a small reserve means the supply has already failed: here, it remains enough through the wait.
THE ROOT
תֶּחְסָר
teḥsar
GROWS FROM
ח־ס־ר
ḥ-s-r
to lack, be deficient
“run short” in this verse is teḥsar. The verb carries the sense of being lacking or deficient, widening “fail” into a statement about whether any shortage is present. The same root names the speaker’s “I shall not want” in Psalm 23:1 and the gatherer’s “had no lack” in Exodus 16:18.
ALSO GROWS
eḥsar: I shall lack; I shall want
אֶחְסָר
Psalm 23:1 uses this root in the speaker’s declaration that they will not lack, echoing the oil’s continuance here.
lo heḥsir: did not lack
לֹא הֶחְסִיר
Exodus 16:18 uses the same root for the one who gathered little and still had enough for the portion they needed.
תִּכְלֶה
tikhleh
GROWS FROM
כ־ל־ה
k-l-h
to finish, come to an end, be consumed
“run out” in this verse is tikhleh. The word translated “waste” also carries the sense of reaching an end or being finished. This root can name completion, as in Genesis 2:2, and depletion, as in Deuteronomy 28:65; here the flour is held before its point of depletion until rain comes.
ALSO GROWS
vaykhal: and he finished
וַיְכַל
Genesis 2:2 uses this root for the completion of the work, showing that its sense includes reaching an endpoint.
kilyon: wasting, exhaustion
כִּלָּיוֹן
Deuteronomy 28:65 uses this related form for “failing” of the eyes, a depletion the flour does not reach before the rain.
תֵּת
tet
GROWS FROM
נ־ת־ן
n-t-n
to give, set, place
“sends” in this verse is tet. The Hebrew phrase speaks of the day the LORD gives rain. This root also forms a word for a gift, so the sentence holds the waiting supply and the arriving rain within a vocabulary of giving.
ALSO GROWS
natan: to give, set, place
נָתַן
The rain clause uses this root to describe what the LORD gives when the waiting interval reaches its stated day.
mattan: gift
מַתָּן
This noun from the same root connects the promised rain with what is given, not merely with a change in weather.
THE PATTERN
Provision meets the need of the present interval without requiring excess beyond it.
And when they measured it with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing over, and the one who gathered little had no lack. Each one gathered according to his eating.A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I do not come up short.Give us today our bread for the coming day.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I do not come up short.The oil’s “shall not fail” is תֶּחְסָר (teḥsar), from ח־ס־ר (ḥ-s-r), “to lack”; Psalm 23 uses the same root in אֶחְסָר (eḥsar), “I shall lack.” The shared root connects the pantry and the person: both name provision as the absence of lack.
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