What Does 1 Chronicles 17:20 Mean in the King James?

O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

1 Chronicles 17:20 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

God’s uniqueness reaches you through hearing: the Hebrew word also branches toward hearing that responds.

THE MEANING

You meet a God with no equal and no rival. The confession reaches you as something heard and received, so testimony becomes the way this truth enters your awareness.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that God is one power among peers, with an equal standing beside him.

THE ROOT

שָׁמַעְנוּ

shamaʿnu

GROWS FROM

שמע

Hear, listen; in some contexts, hear and respond.

English “heard” can sound like passive receipt of a report, but ⁨שָׁמַע⁩ (shamaʿ, “hear, listen”) also branches toward hearing that responds. The verse holds testimony about God’s uniqueness close to the possibility of receiving it as a living encounter.

ALSO GROWS

shemaʿ: Hear and respond.

שְׁמַע

This branch shows that hearing can open into a response, even as the verse presents the claim of God’s uniqueness as received testimony.

shemuʿah: Report, tidings.

שְׁמוּעָה

This branch links hearing with the message carried to others, illuminating how the confession reaches the reader through testimony.

THE PATTERN

God’s uniqueness is confessed by naming the absence of any equal or rival.

Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Exodus 15:11 · KJVThe question makes God’s uniqueness clear by asking whether any other power can compare.

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.

Psalm 86:8 · KJVThe psalm joins God’s unmatched nature with works that have no equal.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

1 Timothy 2:5 · KJVThe confession of one God carries the same pattern of singularity into the New Testament.

THE THREAD

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deuteronomy 6:4 · KJV

“Hear” here is ⁨שְׁמַע⁩ (shemaʿ, “hear and respond”), from the same root as “heard” in this verse. The shared root links hearing God’s oneness with receiving that confession as something that can call forth a response.

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