What Does 1 Kings 17:8 Mean?
And the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
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 the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,THE KEY
The LORD’s word reaches Elijah as both a spoken message and an event unfolding in his life.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s word comes to Elijah and becomes speech addressed to him. The verse presents divine communication as something that reaches a person and takes place in their life. That arriving word still speaks in the present tense of this verse.
THE ROOT
דְבַר
dəḇar
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak or utter; the related noun can mean a word, matter, or affair.
Davar can name both spoken language and a matter or event. English “word” can sound like a sentence alone, while here the word reaches Elijah as speech and as something happening in his life.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke; to speak.
דִּבֵּר
This verb from the same root makes clear that the word arriving to Elijah is speech that addresses him.
devarim: Words, matters, or affairs.
דְּבָרִים
This plural preserves the link between what is said and what takes place, the word is bound to the matter unfolding.
וַיְהִי
wayhî
GROWS FROM
ה־י־ה
h-y-h
To be, become, or happen.
The Hebrew form translated “came” is related to being, becoming, and happening. The verse holds arrival and occurrence together: the word reaches Elijah by becoming the event that addresses him.
ALSO GROWS
hayah: To be, become, or happen.
הָיָה
This root sense lets “came” carry the additional shade of something taking place in Elijah’s life.
wayhî: And it was; and it happened.
וַיְהִי
This form frames the word as an occurrence that reaches Elijah, not merely as an idea he forms.
THE PATTERN
God’s word reaches people as a living presence that enters and acts within human life.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.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.And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.THE THREAD
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.Genesis uses the same Hebrew phrase for the word of the LORD coming to a person, with דָּבָר (dāḇār, “word” or “matter”) at its center. The echo reveals a recurring movement: the word arrives, then becomes speech addressed to the person who receives it.
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