What Does 1 Chronicles 21:11 Mean in the King James?
So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee
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 beloved is placed in the position of choosing before the cost of choice is fully named.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as one who must choose, and the word reaches you before the alternatives are fully named. The choice is already real even while its weight remains out of view.
THE ROOT
בְּחַר
bechar
GROWS FROM
בחר
to choose, select
“Choose” in this verse is bechar. This root keeps choosing, the chosen one, and the choice itself in one word family, a connection English does not show. Here, the choice is placed before David while its full consequence is still out of view.
ALSO GROWS
bachir: chosen, elect
בָּחִיר
The root names both the act of choosing and the one who is chosen.
mivchar: choice, the best or choicest
מִבְחָר
This branch shows that choosing also brings something forward as the one selected.
דָּוִד
Dawid
GROWS FROM
דוד
beloved
David’s name carries belovedness, placing relational identity beside the demand to choose. The beloved is addressed as an agent whose choice still matters.
ALSO GROWS
dod: beloved; also a term for a close male relative
דּוֹד
The word family holds affection and kinship together, revealing the relational sense carried by David’s name.
dodi: my beloved
דּוֹדִי
This form makes the relationship explicit, echoing the belovedness carried in David’s name.
THE PATTERN
A choice makes a person’s direction visible in what they select.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.THE THREAD
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:The same Hebrew root בחר (bachar, choose) appears in the command to choose life. There, the alternatives are named; here, the choice arrives just before its alternatives are spoken.
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