What Does 1 Chronicles 14:9 Mean in the King James?

And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

1 Chronicles 14:9 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The verb translated “spread themselves” also describes stripping off and raiding, so the Philistines’ movement carries the force of an incursion.

THE MEANING

You are seeing opposition occupy open ground: the pressure has spread, but its outcome is still unwritten. Its presence across the field is real, yet presence is not the same as final control.

THE ROOT

פָּשְׁטוּ

pashṭu

GROWS FROM

פשט

p-sh-ṭ

To spread out; in related uses, to strip off or make a raid.

Here ⁨פשט⁩ means to spread out; elsewhere the same root describes stripping off clothing and making a raid. English “spread” catches the movement across space, while the root also carries the senses of exposure and incursion.

ALSO GROWS

vayyitpashet: He stripped himself.

וַיִּתְפַּשֵּׁט

In 1 Samuel 18:4 this form describes Jonathan removing his robe, showing that the root’s range includes stripping away a covering.

ufashatta: You shall make a raid.

וּפָשַׁטְתָּ

In Judges 9:33 the same root names a raid, clarifying the invasive force of the spreading described here.

עֵמֶק

ʿemeq

GROWS FROM

עמק

ʿ-m-q

To be deep; depth.

The Hebrew word for valley shares its root with words for deep and depth. The spreading force occupies a low, recessed space, making the terrain part of the scene.

ALSO GROWS

ʿamoq: Deep.

עָמֹק

This adjective makes the depth contained in the valley word visible.

ʿomeq: Depth.

עֹמֶק

This noun names depth itself, so the setting carries a quality as well as a location.

THE PATTERN

Spread gives a force reach: what moves across a place carries its presence beyond one point.

We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.

1 Samuel 30:14 · KJVThe raiders describe their movement across several territories as an invasion, making spread an act of reach and taking.

And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

Isaiah 8:8 · KJVThe spreading flood reaches across the land and becomes pressure felt throughout the territory.

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

Acts 8:4 · KJVThe scattered people carry the word wherever they go, showing how dispersal can extend a message beyond one place.

THE THREAD

We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.

1 Samuel 30:14 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨פשט⁩ appears in both verses. Here it is rendered “spread themselves”; in 1 Samuel it is rendered “made an invasion,” revealing the incursion carried within the word.

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