What Does 1 Kings 20:4 Mean?
And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to your word, I am yours, and all that I have.
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 king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.THE KEY
The answer surrenders person and possessions together, leaving no boundary between who he is and what he holds.
THE MEANING
The verse puts the reader inside a moment when power asks for everything. The answer yields both the self and every possession, treating neither as reserved. Under pressure, that total consent reads as capitulation as much as allegiance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that surrender concerns only what a person owns: the reply gives the person and all he has together.
THE ROOT
כִּדְבָרְךָ
kidvarekha
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; the related noun means a word, matter, or thing.
The reply is measured according to the king’s davar, a word that can also mean a matter or thing. Speech here does not stay abstract: it sets the terms for what the speaker yields.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: spoke; to speak
דִּבֵּר
The king’s speech frames the reply and the terms of surrender.
davar: word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
The shared root connects the spoken demand with the concrete matter of what is yielded.
THE PATTERN
A claim of belonging reaches past isolated possessions to the whole person and everything held.
A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD's, and what fills it; the inhabited world, and those who settle in it.But who am I, and what is my people, that we should hold the strength to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come from you, and from your hand have we given to you.So likewise, whoever of you does not let go of all that he has, cannot be my learner.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.Both verses use davar, the word or matter that sets reality’s terms. Here a ruler’s word draws out surrender; in Genesis the LORD’s word speaks protection and reward. The shared root reveals the difference between a claim that takes and a promise that holds.
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