What Does 1 Kings 9:9 Mean?
And they will say, "Because they let go of the LORD their God, who brought out their fathers from the land of Egypt, and have held fast to other gods, and have worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought upon them all this harm."
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 they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.THE KEY
Those brought out of bondage can use the same strength to fasten themselves to new masters, turning release into renewed captivity.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you now: even after the LORD brings you out of constriction, you can turn from that source of release and fasten to other powers, bowing and serving them. It names the consequence without hiding the violence: the LORD brings all this evil upon them. Its movement from deliverance to renewed bondage remains open in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that getting out of one bondage makes freedom self-sustaining: a new allegiance can become another captivity.
THE ROOT
וַיִּחַזְקוּ
vayyachazqu
GROWS FROM
חזק
חָזַק (chazaq): be strong or become firm; in causative forms, strengthen or hold fast.
“held fast to” in this verse is vayyachazqu. The verb carries the sense of becoming strong in, or holding fast to, what is grasped. The verse places that grip against the LORD who brought them out: their strength is now fastened to other gods.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: strong, firm
חָזָק
The same root links their act of taking hold with strength and firmness.
chizzeq: strengthen, make firm
חִזֵּק
This branch makes the root’s force clear: what they grasp becomes the place where their strength is invested.
הוֹצִיא
hotsi
GROWS FROM
יצא
יָצָא (yatsa): go out or come out; in the causative form, bring out.
“brought out” in this verse is hotsi. This root names the movement the verse remembers: the LORD causes people to go out. Their departure from Mitzrayim’s constriction comes before their later grasping, so the crisis is a reversal of release already opened.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: go out, come out
יָצָא
This is the basic movement that the verse’s causative form makes happen for others.
yetzi'ah: going out, departure
יְצִיאָה
The shared root keeps the remembered bringing-out connected to the act of leaving constriction.
וַיַּעַבְדֻם
vayya'avdum
GROWS FROM
עבד
עָבַד (avad): work, labor, serve.
“served” in this verse is vayya'avdum. The bowing in the verse does not remain a gesture: service is labor and allegiance given over time. The same root names both serving and the servant, showing how the gods they bow to become powers they work for.
ALSO GROWS
eved: servant
עֶבֶד
The root names the one whose life is given to service, connecting the act of serving these gods to a relation of belonging.
avodah: work, service
עֲבוֹדָה
This branch makes the ongoing labor within “served them” visible.
THE PATTERN
Release from one bondage can be reversed when a person fastens to another power and gives it service.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before my face.No one can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or he will hold fast to one and look down on the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.Stand, then, in the freedom for which the Anointed One set us free, and do not be caught again in the yoke of slavery.THE THREAD
Thus declares the LORD of hosts. The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together, and all who took them captive gripped them fast. They refused to send them away.“Held them fast” uses חָזַק (chazaq, strengthen or hold fast), the same root as “taken hold” here; “let them go” renders שָׁלַח (shalach, release or send forth). The connection exposes the hard edge of grasping: what is held can become captivity, and release is its opposite.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us