What Does 1 Kings 9:17 Mean?

And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the lower,

1 Kings 9:17 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether,

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for “built” is linked to “son,” so building carries the sense of forming what can continue and grow.

THE MEANING

You see Gezer and lower Beth-horon taking shape through the act of building. The Hebrew verb holds construction together with the forming of what can continue beyond its maker.

THE ROOT

וַיִּבֶן

vayyiven from banah

GROWS FROM

בנה

b-n-h

To build, form, or establish.

“built” in this verse is vayyiven from banah. The root connects the act of building with what is formed to endure. Hebrew also links this root with ben, “son”: building can carry the sense of forming what continues and grows.

ALSO GROWS

binyan: Building; structure

בִּנְיָן

This noun names the formed structure itself, extending the verse’s verb into a durable result.

boneh: Builder; one who builds

בּוֹנֶה

This form keeps the focus on the active shaping of a place.

ben: Son

בֵּן

Traditionally linked with the b-n-h family, it evokes a household being built onward through its children.

THE PATTERN

What is built takes its form from the wisdom or foundation on which it rests.

Through wisdom a house is built, and through discernment it is set firm.

Proverbs 24:3 · SDVThe verse presents wisdom and understanding as the forces that give a built place stability.

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.

Matthew 7:24 · SDVThe house’s endurance is tied to the foundation beneath its building.

THE THREAD

And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from Adam, he built into a woman, and brought her to Adam.

Genesis 2:22 · SDV

The Hebrew verb rendered “made” is ⁨וַיִּבֶן⁩ (vayyiven), from the same root, ⁨בנה⁩, as “built” here. The shared word connects a city taking shape with the forming of a person.

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