What Does 1 Kings 4:27 Mean?
And those set standing fed King Solomon, and all who came to King Solomon's table, each man in his month. They lacked nothing.
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 those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing.THE KEY
The table stays sufficient because provision is released in a recurring rhythm, with each steward carrying a turn.
THE MEANING
This passage treats provision as a shared rhythm: each steward has a turn, and each person who comes to the table is counted. Abundance is measured by the absence of lack, where what is sent out meets the need before anyone is left short.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that abundance is measured by what one person stores. Here, abundance is measured at the table by whether anyone leaves with a need unmet.
THE ROOT
יַחְסְרוּ
yaḥseru
GROWS FROM
חסר
To lack, be missing, or be deficient.
“lacked” in this verse is yaḥseru. The phrase does more than describe a feeling of satisfaction: it says no deficiency remains. The passage gives provision a concrete measure, the gap between need and supply closes for everyone at the table.
ALSO GROWS
ḥeser: Lack or deficiency.
חֶסֶר
It names the shortfall that the verse says is absent.
maḥsor: Need or want.
מַחְסוֹר
It shows that the root can name the need itself, making the verse’s claim concrete: no need is left unmet.
שֻׁלְחָן
shulchan
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send, send forth, release, or stretch out.
The table carries the movement of שָׁלַח (shalach, to send or release): provision extends outward. With each steward taking a turn, the table becomes a place where what is held is sent toward everyone who comes.
ALSO GROWS
shalach: Send, send forth, release, or stretch out.
שָׁלַח
The officers’ provision moves outward to each person who comes to the table.
Shiloach: Sent forth; the sent waters of Shiloach.
שִׁלֹחַ
It echoes provision as something released outward, carrying what restores rather than remaining held back.
חָדְשׁוֹ
ḥodsho
GROWS FROM
חדש
To be new or renewed.
The word for month belongs to a root of newness and renewal. Provision here is not a single burst of surplus; it continues through a recurring rhythm, with responsibility renewed in its season.
ALSO GROWS
chadash: New or fresh.
חָדָשׁ
It links each month with a fresh turn in the provision cycle.
chiddesh: Renew or make new.
חִדֵּשׁ
It highlights the recurring renewal built into the monthly rotation.
THE PATTERN
Provision is complete when it moves through a shared order until no one is left lacking.
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.For none among them lacked, for as many as owned fields or houses sold them and carried the prices of what was sold,THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I do not come up short.The Hebrew phrase לֹא אֶחְסָר (lo eḥsar, I shall not lack) uses the same root חסר (ḥ-s-r, lack or be deficient) as the assurance that nothing is lacking at Solomon’s table. The shepherd’s care and the provision at the table meet at the same measure: no need is left unmet.
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