What Does 1 Kings 7:10 Mean?
And the foundation was of heavy stones, even great stones, stones of ten forearms, and stones of eight forearms.
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 foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.THE KEY
The Hebrew repeats יסד (yāsad, set as a foundation) in foundation and was founded, making the base an act of deliberate setting.
THE MEANING
What holds your life now is not incidental: the foundation is founded, and its stones are costly, large, and measured. The verse gives the support beneath what is seen real value and scale.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what supports a structure from below is lesser because it is out of sight; these foundation stones are costly and immense.
THE ROOT
הַיְּסֹד
yesod
GROWS FROM
יסד
To set, establish, or lay a foundation.
The Hebrew names the foundation and then repeats the same root in מְיֻסָּד (mĕyussād, founded). English smooths away that echo, where the base is not only a place but something deliberately set.
ALSO GROWS
yāsad: To lay a foundation; to establish.
יָסַד
The verb names the act that gives the foundation its place.
mĕyussād: Founded; established.
מְיֻסָּד
This form appears in the verse and repeats the root of foundation, linking the base to the act of setting it.
יְקָרָה
yĕqārāh
GROWS FROM
יקר
To be precious, valuable, or esteemed.
“heavy” in this verse is yĕqārāh. The root family holds costliness together with preciousness and esteem. The value belongs to the stones beneath the structure, not only to what rises above them.
ALSO GROWS
yāqār: Precious; valuable.
יָקָר
This adjective shares the root and shows the value carried by costly.
hôqîr: To esteem; to regard as precious.
הוֹקִיר
The same consonants connect material value with the act of valuing.
גְּדֹלוֹת
gedolot
GROWS FROM
גדל
To grow, become great, or increase in size.
The word translated great belongs to a family that also describes growing or becoming great. Here the scale is literal: the stones are measured in cubits, making their size part of the foundation’s substance.
ALSO GROWS
gādōl: Great; large.
גָּדוֹל
This form shares the root and names the stones’ scale.
gādal: To grow; to become great.
גָּדַל
This verb shares the root and connects greatness with increase in size or stature.
THE PATTERN
What rises is held by a foundation deliberately set to bear its weight.
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a weighty cornerstone, a foundation set firm. The one who leans his weight will not hurry.Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.For no one can set another foundation beside the one lying there, which is Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, heavy stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the house.This verse brings together the same roots: יסד (y-s-d, found), יקר (y-q-r, precious or costly), and גדל (g-d-l, great). Here, the foundation and its stones receive exact measurements, carrying the earlier description into a precise scale.
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