What Does 1 Chronicles 17:18 Mean in the King James?
What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.
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 servant’s honor has weight because God already knows him; no further speech can make that knowing more complete.
THE MEANING
Your speech can reach its limit while God already knows you. The servant’s honor carries weight, and David’s name echoes belovedness: service and belovedness stand together in this verse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You must keep explaining yourself for God to know or honor you.
THE ROOT
יָדַעְתָּ
yadaʿta
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
To know or perceive; knowing through encounter.
“knowest” in this verse is yadaʿta. This root holds knowing together with knowledge and being known, so the verse speaks of more than having facts about a servant. God’s knowing is already present before David can add another word.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge
דַּעַת
This related form shows that knowing and knowledge grow from the same root.
nodaʿ: Known, recognized
נוֹדָע
The root can describe the one who is known, echoing the servant who stands within God’s knowing.
כָּבוֹד
kavod
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or weighty; to carry weight.
Kavod holds the sense of weight and substance within “honour.” The servant’s honor is not merely praise; it has weight in the presence of the God who knows him.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty
כָּבֵד
This adjective makes the root’s sense of weight audible beneath “honour.”
kavad: To be heavy or honored
כָּבַד
The same root links being weighty with receiving honor.
עֶבֶד
eved
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
To work or serve.
The servant is the one who serves, from the same root as service and work. David’s name, דָּוִד (David), carries an echo of דּוֹד (dod, beloved), placing belovedness alongside service in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
avad: To serve or work
עָבַד
This verb reveals the action held inside the noun “servant.”
avodah: Service or work
עֲבֹדָה
The related noun connects the servant’s identity with the act of serving.
THE PATTERN
God’s knowing reaches the person before words or outward measures can define them.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.Both verses use יָדַע (yada, know): God’s knowing is direct recognition of the person, not something speech manufactures. Psalm 139 opens that knowing further with the image of being searched and known.
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