What Does 1 Kings 8:55 Mean?
And he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
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 he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,THE KEY
The blessing is loud enough for everyone to hear, while its Hebrew root carries the image of a bent knee inside the word.
THE MEANING
A blessing enters shared space as something the whole gathered people can hear. The verse holds the moment just before the words of blessing unfold, with the speaker addressing the assembly together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A blessing has to be private or inward to matter; here, it is voiced publicly to the whole assembly.
THE ROOT
וַיְבָרֶךְ
wayevarekh
GROWS FROM
ברך
b-r-k
To bless; the root is linked with bending or kneeling.
“blessed” in this verse is wayevarekh. The root holds blessing and the bent knee together, giving the word a posture of honoring within it. Here the speaker stands and voices the blessing to everyone gathered, making that posture part of a public act.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
This branch reveals the bodily posture associated with the blessing root.
berakhah: Blessing
בְּרָכָה
This noun shares the same root, showing the connection between the act of blessing and the posture carried in its root.
קְהַל
qehāl
GROWS FROM
קהל
q-h-l
To gather or assemble.
“assembly of Israel” in this verse is qehāl. The word for congregation grows from the language of gathering: the blessing addresses people brought together as one assembly. English can make “congregation” sound like a static group, while the root carries the act of assembling within it.
ALSO GROWS
qāhāl: Assembly or gathered people
קָהָל
This noun makes the gathering itself visible inside the word translated “congregation.”
haqhel: Gather or assemble
הַקְהֵל
This verb shows the action that produces a qāhāl: people are brought together.
THE PATTERN
A blessing becomes communal when it is voiced over people gathered to receive it.
Then the priests and the Levites rose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his set-apart dwelling, even to the heavens.And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting his hands, he blessed them.THE THREAD
Then the priests and the Levites rose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his set-apart dwelling, even to the heavens.The Hebrew word translated “blessed” comes from the same root in both verses. Here the voice is explicitly heard, opening the loud voice in 1 Kings as part of how blessing reaches the gathered people.
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