What Does 1 Kings 10:25 Mean in the King James?

And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

1 Kings 10:25 · 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

The gifts are not a single display of wealth: the verse places them in a cycle that returns each year.

THE MEANING

Each person brings a gift, and the giving returns year after year. Precious vessels, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules all enter this recurring exchange.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that this abundance is a one-time windfall: it comes again each year.

THE ROOT

שָׁנָה

shanah

GROWS FROM

שׁנה

sh-n-h

Repeat, do again; also change or renew.

The word for “year” is linked to the root of repetition and change. The phrase “year by year” therefore carries the sense of a cycle returning: these gifts belong to a rhythm that comes around again.

ALSO GROWS

shanah: Year; a recurring annual cycle.

שָׁנָה

This is the word repeated in the verse’s “year by year,” making the return explicit.

mishneh: Second, double, or a copy.

מִשְׁנֶה

This branch carries the sense of what comes again or is repeated, echoing the returning cycle of gifts.

THE PATTERN

Giving and provision appear in recurring rhythms, returning with each cycle.

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Genesis 8:22 · KJVThe verse names the recurring cycles that sustain life, giving a larger frame for gifts that return year after year.

And to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD:

Nehemiah 10:35 · KJVFirstfruits, like the gifts in Kings, arrive again with each year’s cycle.

Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

1 Corinthians 16:2 · KJVThe weekly rhythm makes each person’s contribution part of a recurring pattern.

THE THREAD

And to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD:

Nehemiah 10:35 · KJV

Nehemiah uses ⁨שָׁנָה⁩ (shanah, “year”) in the same “year by year” phrase. The shared root ⁨שׁנה⁩ (sh-n-h, “repeat; do again”) links both passages through gifts brought with the return of each cycle.

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