What Does 1 Kings 13:16 Mean in the King James?
And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:
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 repeated “with thee” makes the refusal relational: the boundary closes the road and the table together.
THE MEANING
Some invitations ask for more than a change of direction; they ask for shared presence, shared place, and shared provision. The verse shows a boundary holding across all of them instead of yielding one layer at a time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that companionship can be accepted while the boundary is kept only in name: the refusal includes the shared meal and drink.
THE ROOT
שׁוּב
shuv
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
Turn back, return; in some forms, restore or bring back.
The English “return” sounds like movement along a route, but שׁוּב (shuv) also carries the sense of turning back and restoration. The refusal here closes one possible return; the same root can describe a return that restores.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
It makes the root’s turning movement visible: returning is a change of direction, not merely retracing distance.
yeshovev: He restores, turns back.
יְשׁוֹבֵב
This form of the root appears in Psalm 23:3, where return becomes restoration of the living soul.
מָקוֹם
maqom
GROWS FROM
קום
Rise, stand, take one’s stand.
מָקוֹם (maqom, “place”) belongs to the word family of standing and rising. The refusal is spatial as well as relational: it excludes shared presence in this place.
ALSO GROWS
qum: Rise, stand.
קוּם
The shared root lets “place” carry an echo of where someone stands, not only a point on a map.
heqim: Establish, raise, cause to stand.
הֵקִים
This form shares the root’s standing imagery, deepening the sense of a position held or established.
THE PATTERN
A received word can draw a boundary around both the path and the company that joins it.
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.THE THREAD
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.The Hebrew verb behind “restoreth” comes from שׁוּב (shuv, “turn back, return”), the same root as “return” here. Psalm 23 shows the root’s other face: a return that restores נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “living soul”) and leads into a path.
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