What Does 1 Kings 8:40 Mean?
That they may stand in awe of you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.
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
That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.THE KEY
The verse binds awe to the whole of life because even the ground beneath it is received, not self-made.
THE MEANING
Your life unfolds on ground you receive, and this verse places awe of God across its whole span. Awe is not only a passing reaction; it is a steady orientation through every day of life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Awe of God belongs only to worship or crisis; this verse carries it through all the days a person lives.
THE ROOT
יִירָאוּךָ
yirāʾûkā
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
“stand in awe” in this verse is yirāʾûkā. English “fear” can sound like alarm, while this root also names reverent awe before what is weighty. With “all the days,” it describes a steady orientation, not a moment of panic.
ALSO GROWS
yirʾāh: Awe, fear, reverence
יִרְאָה
This noun names the enduring response that the verse places across the days of life.
nōrāʾ: Awe-inspiring, fearsome
נוֹרָא
The same root can describe what evokes awe, as well as the response itself.
הָאֲדָמָה
hāʾădāmāh
GROWS FROM
אדם
ʾ-d-m
Ground or soil; the word family also names the human in relation to the ground.
The Hebrew term rendered “land” here is adamah, ground or soil, sharing its consonants and word family with adam, the human. Life and awe unfold on the very ground given to human beings.
ALSO GROWS
ʾădāmāh: Ground, soil
אֲדָמָה
This is the word used for the land on which the verse’s life is lived.
ʾādām: Human, the ground-being
אָדָם
Its shared word family links human life with the ground it inhabits.
נָתַתָּ
nātattā
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
The verb translated “gavest” belongs to a root that also means to set or place. The land appears as something given for life to unfold upon, making the verse’s awe a response to received ground.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: To give, set, place
נָתַן
This verb names the act by which the ground in the verse is received.
mattānāh: Gift
מַתָּנָה
This related noun makes visible the gift dimension carried by the giving root.
THE PATTERN
Awe of God gives life its orientation through ordinary days and the full span of a person’s journey.
So that you might stand in awe of the LORD your God, to guard all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life, and so that your days may be lengthened.The head of wisdom is awe of the LORD. All who do his commandments have good insight. His praise stands for ages.And if you call upon the Father, who judges without partiality, according to the work of each, walk through the time of your dwelling alongside in awe.THE THREAD
So that you might stand in awe of the LORD your God, to guard all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life, and so that your days may be lengthened.Both verses use ירא (y-r-ʾ), the root meaning fear or stand in awe, and both place that awe across “all the days” of life. Deuteronomy makes explicit the same span that 1 Kings holds inside its single line.
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