What Does 1 Kings 12:16 Mean in the King James?
So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
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
A refusal to hear at the center turns shared belonging into a question of each person’s portion, and the people ultimately return to their own tents.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you feel belonging break at its center: the people no longer experience a shared portion in the king’s house. They name the severance aloud and disperse to their own tents, while David is left with his own house.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that common ancestry or a shared ruler can guarantee unity when the people’s voice receives no answer.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shamaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, heed, respond
“hearkened” in this verse is shamaʿ. Here the verb for hearing reaches into heeding: the king does not answer the people’s voice. The fracture begins before anyone moves; their withdrawal to their tents is the consequence of receiving no response at the center.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This familiar form of the root shows that hearing can include a response, giving the king’s refusal a relational weight.
shemuah: Report; what is heard
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch concerns what reaches the ear as a report, underscoring that the king’s refusal is a failure to receive the people’s voice.
חֵלֶק
cheleq
GROWS FROM
חלק
ḥ-l-q
Divide, apportion, assign shares
The people frame their bond as a share: what portion do they have in David? This root’s sense of apportioning makes their words expose belonging as something they no longer experience in common; after that, they return to separate tents.
ALSO GROWS
chalaq: Divide; apportion
חָלַק
The verb gives the concrete action behind a portion: a whole is separated into shares.
chelqah: Field; allotted plot
חֶלְקָה
This word names a piece of land as an assigned share, echoing the people’s question about what part belongs to them.
דָּוִד
David
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; beloved one
David’s name carries the sense of beloved, adding an intimate shade to the people’s severance from his house. Their question about having a share in David ends with David left to his own house.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved; close kinsman
דּוֹד
This root connects David’s name with affection and kinship, adding a relational shade to the people’s rejection of his house.
dodim: Loves; expressions of affection
דּוֹדִים
This related form carries the root’s sense of affection, which sharpens the contrast between a name associated with closeness and the separation declared here.
THE PATTERN
When a voice is refused, relationship stops functioning as shared belonging and turns into distance, exclusion, or force.
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,THE THREAD
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.Both verses use שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear and respond) for hearing. Zechariah makes the withdrawal visible: the refused voice meets a shoulder pulled away and ears stopped, while here the refusal ends with a people dispersed to their tents.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us