What Does 1 Kings 13:17 Mean in the King James?
For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
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 Hebrew says a “word” spoke by the “word” of the LORD, yet the next verse reveals that this doubled formula can cloak a lie.
THE MEANING
The claim is pinned to concrete boundaries, bread, water, and a road not to retrace, so its authority presents itself in ordinary decisions. Hebrew doubles the root ד־ב־ר: a word speaks by the word of the LORD; the next verse calls this claim a lie, showing how sacred language can carry a false source.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Invoking “the word of the LORD” does not by itself make a claim true; this very formula is spoken by a liar.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dābār
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak, utter; the noun can mean a word, matter, or thing.
“word / said” in this verse is dābār. The line carries a striking doubling: a “word” speaks to the speaker, then it is “by the word of the LORD,” with both forms seeded in דבר. The next verse calls the claim a lie, so shared vocabulary reveals how truth-language can be repeated without being true.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
This is the noun translated “word,” the message the speaker claims to have received.
dibber: Spoke
דִּבֶּר
This verb shares the noun’s root, binding the claim of a spoken message to the word itself.
תָּשׁוּב
tāshuv
GROWS FROM
שוב
Turn back, return.
“turn again” in this verse is tāshuv. The root carries the sense of returning, so the boundary concerns a reversal of direction. The verse makes that return concrete: going back along the route already traveled.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn back, return
שׁוּב
This is the basic return sense behind the instruction not to go back.
hēshīv: Bring back, restore
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form shows the same root can describe bringing something back, deepening the sense of reversal in the verse.
דֶּרֶךְ
derek
GROWS FROM
דרך
Tread, step.
The word for “way” grows from a root meaning to tread, so a way is both a direction and a track made underfoot. That makes the boundary specific: the road is the one already walked.
ALSO GROWS
derek: Road, way, path
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the route the speaker says must not be taken again.
dārakh: Tread, step
דָּרַךְ
This verb reveals the physical action beneath “way”: a path is formed by steps upon it.
THE PATTERN
A message claiming divine authority is weighed by its fidelity to the word already given, not by the sacredness of its vocabulary.
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.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.Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.THE THREAD
He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.Both verses repeat דָּבָר (dābār, “word”) and דִּבֶּר (dibber, “spoke”), from דבר (d-b-r, “speak”). The next verse names the claim a lie, so the repeated root exposes how the same formula can sound like revelation while carrying a falsehood.
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