What Does 1 Kings 10:5 Mean in the King James?

And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

1 Kings 10:5 · 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 word rendered “spirit” is ⁨רוּחַ⁩ (ruach, breath and moving air), so the verse makes wonder feel like the breath itself has left her.

THE MEANING

You see provision, service, presentation, and worship assembled before you, and the sight leaves you breathless. Wonder reaches into the life within you before you can shape a response.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that astonishment is only a thought: the verse gives it a bodily depth, describing the breath itself as gone.

THE ROOT

רוּחַ

ruach

GROWS FROM

רוּחַ

ruach

to blow; moving air, breath

The Hebrew line uses ⁨רוּחַ⁩ (ruach, breath and moving air) for what the KJV renders “spirit.” The word also names wind, making her astonishment bodily: the breath within her seems to leave.

ALSO GROWS

ruach: breath; wind

רוּחַ

Genesis 8:1 uses the same word for wind moving over the earth, holding inward breath and moving air together.

ruachot: winds

רוּחוֹת

Jeremiah 49:36 uses the plural for the four winds, extending the same root to movement coming from every quarter.

THE PATTERN

An overwhelming encounter shows itself through the body’s loss of breath, strength, or ability to stand.

And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

Joshua 5:1 · KJVThe report leaves the kings with melted hearts and no spirit, using the body’s collapse to show the force of what they hear.

Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.

Daniel 10:8 · KJVAfter seeing the vision, Daniel says no strength remains; the encounter reaches his body before he can explain it.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Revelation 1:17 · KJVSeeing him, the speaker falls as dead; his body gives the measure of the vision’s overwhelming force.

THE THREAD

Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

Ezekiel 37:5 · KJV

Ezekiel uses the same word, ⁨רוּחַ⁩ (ruach, breath and moving air), for the breath that enters lifeless bones. Here the breath seems to leave a viewer in wonder; there, it enters the bones and they live.

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