What Does 1 Kings 13:10 Mean in the King James?

So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.

1 Kings 13:10 · 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

A way is a track made by treading, so the changed direction becomes visible in the ground the traveler takes.

THE MEANING

Your route gives direction a physical shape: the path ahead differs from the one that brought you here. The former road remains recognizable, while your steps now carry you elsewhere.

THE ROOT

דֶּרֶךְ

derek

GROWS FROM

דרך

To tread, step, or trample; the noun names the track or way trodden.

Derek (⁨דֶּרֶךְ⁩, way or path) grows from darak (⁨דָּרַךְ⁩, tread): a way is a course underfoot, made by steps. The verse repeats this word around the refusal to return, tracing the changed direction in the route itself.

ALSO GROWS

darak: To tread, step, or march; also to bend a bow.

דָּרַךְ

This verb supplies the physical action beneath a way: a course is followed step by step.

midrakh: A place trodden, a footprint, or a footstep.

מִדְרָךְ

This branch makes the path’s footprint image explicit: a way is where feet have gone.

שָׁב

shav

GROWS FROM

שוב

To turn back, return, or turn around.

“returned” in this verse is shav. Shuv (⁨שׁוּב⁩, return or turn back) names a reversal of direction. Joined with derek (⁨דֶּרֶךְ⁩, way or path), the verse defines the new route by the turn the traveler does not make back onto the road of arrival.

ALSO GROWS

shuv: To return or turn back.

שׁוּב

This is the verb’s root form, showing the turning back that the verse says does not happen.

meshubah: Turning away or backsliding.

מְשׁוּבָה

This branch preserves the root’s directional image: a course can turn away from the path already taken.

THE PATTERN

A changed course becomes visible in both the route chosen and the route refused.

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

Exodus 13:17 · KJVThe route is shaped by the road the people do not take, even though it is the nearer one.

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

Proverbs 4:14-15 · KJVThe course forward is marked by paths the traveler passes by and leaves behind.

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Matthew 2:12 · KJVThe departure takes another way, and the warning makes the refused return part of the changed course.

THE THREAD

And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:24 · KJV

The same Hebrew word, derek (⁨דֶּרֶךְ⁩, way or path), names both the road traveled here and a way that can be found “in me.” The shared word opens the route beyond geography: a path can also describe the course within a person.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us