What Does 1 Kings 3:5 Mean?
In Gibeon the LORD showed himself to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give you.
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
In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.THE KEY
The gift is not named first; desire is invited to speak before the answer takes shape.
THE MEANING
You stand before an invitation where desire is allowed to become a spoken request: “Ask what I shall give thee.” Asking and giving are held in one exchange, while the content of the gift remains open.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This unsettles the belief that asking is presumptuous by itself: here the question is explicitly invited.
THE ROOT
שְׁאַל
sha'al
GROWS FROM
שאל
Ask, inquire, or request.
“Ask” in this verse is sha'al. The imperative is more than a passing question: this root also forms the word for a request. The invitation gives desire a voice before the gift is named.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: Request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun makes clear that the asking can be a stated desire, not merely a question seeking information.
sha'ul: Asked-for; traditionally associated with the name Saul.
שָׁאוּל
The root can describe not only the act of asking but what is sought.
אֶתֶּן
'etten
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, or place.
“Give” in this verse is 'etten. The verb names God as the giver, and the root also carries the sense of setting or placing. Giving here is presented as a concrete act, with its content left for the request to bring into view.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
This branch names what is received when the giving takes form.
netinah: Giving or donation.
נְתִינָה
This branch names the act of giving itself, keeping the giver’s action in view alongside the gift.
שְׁלֹמֹה
Shelomoh
GROWS FROM
שלם
Be whole, complete, or sound.
“Solomon” in this verse is Shelomoh. Shelomoh carries the root of wholeness, also heard in shalom. That name-nature resonates with the open question: the one associated with wholeness is invited to say what he desires.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being, or peace.
שָׁלוֹם
It brings the nature of wholeness into the name Solomon.
shalem: Whole or complete.
שָׁלֵם
It shows the root’s concrete sense of being intact or complete.
THE PATTERN
Scripture joins an invited request to a giver who answers with a gift.
Ask of me, and I give you the nations for your inheritance, and the far edges of the earth as what your hands grasp.Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.But if any of you is left behind in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without doubling and without taunting, and it will be given him.THE THREAD
Ask of me, and I give you the nations for your inheritance, and the far edges of the earth as what your hands grasp.The Hebrew repeats the same root movement: שָׁאַל (sha’al, ask) followed by נָתַן (natan, give). The request and the gift are held together in both verses.
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