What Does 1 Kings 5:9 Mean?
My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts for you by sea to the place you send to me, and I will spread them out there, and you will lift them, and you will do my desire, in giving bread for my house.
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
My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.THE KEY
Provision reaches its purpose through release and reception: what is sent from the heights becomes food in a household.
THE MEANING
What sustains you can arrive through a chain of hands: one releases, another carries, and another receives. The verse makes fulfillment concrete in food reaching a household.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You must be the source and carrier of everything that sustains your household.
THE ROOT
תִּשְׁלַח
tishlaḥ
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
To send forth, send away, or release.
“send” in this verse is tishlaḥ. The destination is named through the act of sending: the timber goes where it is sent. The root holds sending and releasing together, revealing provision as something made available through a directed handoff.
ALSO GROWS
shalach: To send, send forth, or release.
שָׁלַח
This is the root’s basic action: what is carried by sea is released toward the place its recipient names.
mishloach: A sending or dispatch.
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This branch makes the movement concrete: provision travels through a directed dispatch before it reaches the people who receive it.
חֶפְצִי
ḥeftsi
GROWS FROM
חפץ
ḥ-p-ṣ
To desire, take pleasure in, or delight.
“do my desire” in this verse is ḥeftsi. The desire in this verse does not remain abstract; it reaches its purpose as food for a household. The root connects what is wanted with what gives delight, here made tangible in sustenance.
ALSO GROWS
ḥefets: Desire, pleasure, or delight.
חֵפֶץ
This noun shows that the household’s food is not incidental to the desire; it is the concrete fulfillment named in the verse.
ḥafets: To desire or take delight in.
חָפֵץ
The verbal form links desire to its object: what is desired comes into view as provision reaching the household.
THE PATTERN
Provision reaches people through a chain that turns what is released into shared sustenance.
He makes the grass sprout for the cattle, and the herb for the service of humankind, to bring bread out from the earth.Now the one who supplies seed to the sower supplies bread for eating, and fills out your sown seed, and makes grow the fruits of your alignment.Then the disciples, each according to his ability, marked out to send help to the brethren who dwelt in Judaea.THE THREAD
And now, do not be pained, and do not let it burn in your eyes that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to keep alive.Both verses use שלח (shalach, to send or release): the timber is sent toward the place its recipient names, and Joseph is sent ahead to preserve life. In both, sending carries provision toward where it is needed.
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