What Does 1 Kings 9:24 Mean?
But Pharaoh's daughter went up from the city of David to her house, which Solomon had built for her. Then he built Millo.
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
But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.THE KEY
The same Hebrew root builds her house and Millo, tying a private dwelling to the city’s structure as two scales of making a place.
THE MEANING
The verse holds her dwelling beside Millo and repeats the verb “build” for both. You see private shelter and public structure as two scales of making a place. Millo’s name adds the image of a filling or filled place.
THE ROOT
בָּנָה
bānāh
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
Build, establish, bring a structure into being.
“built” in this verse is bānāh. בָּנָה (bānāh, build) is repeated: Solomon builds a house for her, then builds Millo. Its branch בֵּן (bēn, son) carries the root’s image of building into the formation of a household, while בִּנְיָן (binyān, building or structure) names what that work produces.
ALSO GROWS
bēn: Son
בֵּן
The related word carries building into the formation and continuation of a household.
binyān: Building, structure
בִּנְיָן
It names the made form that the repeated verb בָּנָה (bānāh, build) brings into being here.
מִלּוֹא
millōʾ
GROWS FROM
מלא
m-l-ʾ
Fill, be full.
The name מִלּוֹא (millōʾ, Millo) is linked to מלא (m-l-ʾ, fill). It suggests a filled place or structure, though this verse does not specify its precise form.
ALSO GROWS
mālēʾ: Full
מָלֵא
It makes fullness part of the word family behind Millo’s name.
millēʾ: Fill
מִלֵּא
It presents filling as an action, extending the image of a made place beyond its construction.
THE PATTERN
Building gives form to both a household and the wider place where people dwell.
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders toil in emptiness. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in emptiness.Through wisdom a house is built, and through discernment it is set firm.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.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders toil in emptiness. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in emptiness.Both verses use בנה (b-n-h, build): here it joins her house to Millo, and in Psalm 127:1 it joins a house to the city. Together they let “building” stretch from one person’s dwelling to the wider inhabited place.
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