What Does 1 Kings 22:21 Mean?
And the breath came forth, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will coax him.
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 there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.THE KEY
The spirit’s “persuasion” carries the root’s double edge of opening a person and enticing them toward a course.
THE MEANING
A ruach, breath, wind, spirit, stands before the LORD and voices a plan to influence a king. The Hebrew verb for “persuade” can also mean entice or deceive, so persuasion here carries a double edge. That same force remains recognizable now: influence can reach a person by opening them toward a direction before the destination is clear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that persuasion is automatically neutral: the verb can name enticement and deception as well as persuasion.
THE ROOT
אֲפַתֶּנּוּ
aphattennu
GROWS FROM
פתה
pathah
To open or make receptive; in intensive forms, to entice, persuade, or deceive.
“coax” in this verse is aphattennu. The verb belongs to a family that also names the simple, easily influenced person. Persuasion here is more than information: it is an opening through which influence can enter.
ALSO GROWS
peti: A simple or easily influenced person.
פֶּתִי
The same root family links the act of enticing with the person who is open to influence.
pittuy: Enticement or persuasion.
פִּתּוּי
This noun makes the verb’s double edge visible: influence can coax someone toward a course or draw them into deception.
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
רוח
ruach
To breathe or blow; moving air expressed as breath, wind, or spirit.
“the breath” in this verse is ruach. רוּחַ holds breath, wind, and spirit in one Hebrew word, framing the speaker as unseen movement. Related forms carry the sense of room and relief, extending this breath-root toward spaciousness.
ALSO GROWS
ravach: To have room or breathe freely; to find relief.
רָוַח
This related verbal form carries the root from moving air toward the experience of having space.
revachah: Relief, respite, or room.
רְוָחָה
The noun gives that spaciousness a form: a breathing room or reprieve.
THE PATTERN
Enticement works by opening a person toward a direction and drawing them along it.
My son, if those who miss the mark coax you, do not go along.O LORD, you have coaxed me, and I was coaxed. You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become laughter all the day; everyone mocks me.But each one is tested by his own craving, dragged out and lured.THE THREAD
O LORD, you have coaxed me, and I was coaxed. You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become laughter all the day; everyone mocks me.The Hebrew word rendered “deceived” comes from the same פתה root as “persuade” here. Its range joins persuasion with enticement and deception, revealing how a promised influence can carry a sharper edge.
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