What Does 1 Kings 11:11 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to 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 Hebrew word for “kept” means “guarded,” so the kingdom’s tearing begins with a bond left unguarded.
THE MEANING
A kingdom can seem secure while its binding trust is being abandoned; here, that breach leads to the kingdom being torn away and given to a servant. What is entrusted remains bound to how it is kept.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that possession alone makes a granted place permanent. The verse ties the kingdom to the covenant it is meant to keep.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַרְתָּ
shamarta
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
sh-m-r
to watch over, guard, or preserve
“Kept” carries the sense of guarding what is entrusted, not merely possessing it. The verse places the failure to guard the covenant before the kingdom is torn away.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: keeper, guardian, or watchman
שׁוֹמֵר
The shared root makes keeping an active watch over something entrusted.
mishmeret: charge or guard duty
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
A covenant kept is a responsibility held in care, and the verse names that responsibility before naming the loss.
קֹרֵעַ
qore'a
GROWS FROM
קרע
q-r-ʿ
to tear or rend apart
“rend” in this verse is qore'a. The word pictures the kingdom being torn apart, not simply reassigned. That tearing follows the failure to guard the covenant, linking a broken bond with a divided realm.
ALSO GROWS
qeri'ah: rending or tearing, especially of a garment
קְרִיעָה
A tear made visible on a garment echoes the verse’s visible division of a kingdom.
qaru'a: torn
קָרוּעַ
This form describes the state left by the tearing: something that was whole is now split.
לְעַבְדֶּךָ
le'avdekha
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
to work or serve
The kingdom passes to someone called a servant, a word rooted in serving and working. The verse turns rank into something provisional: the one who serves can receive what the ruler loses.
ALSO GROWS
eved: servant
עֶבֶד
This is the word used for the person who receives the kingdom.
avodah: work or service
עֲבֹדָה
The shared root keeps the recipient’s identity tied to service even as the verse gives him royal authority.
THE PATTERN
Entrusted authority can be withdrawn and transferred when its binding trust is broken or left unused.
And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.THE THREAD
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.“Keep” here shares the root שׁמר (sh-m-r), meaning to guard or watch over, with “kept” in 1 Kings. Genesis places guarding at the heart of what is entrusted; the king’s failure to guard the covenant leads to the kingdom’s tearing.
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