What Does 1 Kings 12:5 Mean in the King James?

And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed.

1 Kings 12:5 · 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.

THE KEY

The people’s departure is framed by a return already spoken into it.

THE MEANING

A stretch of time can stand between a question and its answer without severing the connection: the way out is marked with a return. Here, movement away from the speaker already carries movement back toward him.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that leaving a conversation means it has ended: this departure is explicitly temporary and oriented toward return.

THE ROOT

שׁוּבוּ

shuvu

GROWS FROM

שׁוּב

Turn back, return; in a causative form, bring back or restore.

“come again” in this verse is shuvu. The instruction does not end with leaving: the same root names the return that follows. Its branches also connect returning with answering and restoring, so the movement back is part of the response itself.

ALSO GROWS

teshuvah: Return, turning, or answer.

תְּשׁוּבָה

An answer can carry the sense of turning back toward the one who spoke, illuminating why the people’s return completes the exchange.

heshiv: Bring back or restore.

הֵשִׁיב

This causative branch shows that the root’s return can be more than coming back: it can describe being brought back.

THE PATTERN

A departure can remain oriented toward a named return.

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 3:19 · KJVThe same Hebrew root ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv), meaning “turn back” or “return,” names the movement toward the ground from which the human comes.

And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.

Exodus 24:14 · KJVA pause and separation remain bounded by the stated intention to return.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 14:3 · KJVThe departure is spoken together with a return to the people and a renewed closeness.

THE THREAD

Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

Jeremiah 15:19 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv), meaning “return,” appears here in both “return” and “bring thee again.” That same root deepens “return unto me” in this verse: returning is movement back toward the one addressed.

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