What Does 1 Kings 11:33 Mean in the King James?
Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
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 verse makes worship visible: the life that bows elsewhere also leaves the LORD’s path and stops guarding what the LORD commands.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now wherever allegiance is divided: bowing toward other powers, leaving the LORD’s way, and no longer guarding what is set before you belong to one turning. David’s name carries the sense “beloved,” and the verse sets that belovedness beside a way of walking and keeping.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that worship is only an inward feeling, separate from the path a life walks.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ
vayishtachavu
GROWS FROM
שחה
sh-ch-h
To bow down or prostrate oneself.
Beneath “worshipped” is a bodily posture: the Hebrew describes bowing down. The verse joins that posture to the direction of a life, showing allegiance through what receives the bow and where the feet go.
ALSO GROWS
shachah: To bend oneself down or prostrate oneself.
שָׁחָה
It makes worship concrete in the verse: the life turns its posture toward the gods named here.
mishtachaveh: One who bows or prostrates oneself.
מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה
This branch keeps the act visible: worship is expressed as a posture of allegiance.
לִשְׁמֹר
lishmor
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
To guard, watch over, or keep.
“Keep” carries the sense of guarding and watching, not merely recalling a rule. The verse pairs this active care with walking in the LORD’s ways; both describe a life oriented toward what is entrusted to it.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: One who watches over or guards.
שֹׁמֵר
It reveals the attentiveness held inside “keep”: the statutes and judgments are something to watch over.
mishmeret: A guard duty, charge, or watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
It shows how keeping can name an ongoing responsibility, not a one-time act.
דָּוִד
Dāwîḏ
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; one dearly loved.
David’s name carries the sense “beloved.” Here that name stands beside a pattern of walking and keeping, joining belovedness with a lived orientation toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
dod: A beloved one or close beloved.
דּוֹד
It brings the relational sense carried by David’s name into the verse’s comparison.
dodim: Expressions of love or affection.
דּוֹדִים
It echoes the language of belovedness beneath the name David.
THE PATTERN
Allegiance takes visible form in what a life bows to, the path it walks, and what it guards.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.THE THREAD
And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee.This verse repeats the Hebrew roots הלך (halakh, walk or go) and שמר (shamar, guard or keep). It gathers the actions that appear as absences here into one sequence: hearing, walking, doing, and guarding.
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