What Does 1 Kings 15:17 Mean in the King James?
And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
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 blockade works by withholding passage: Hebrew frames “suffer” as not giving anyone the way to Asa.
THE MEANING
A border becomes a weapon when someone controls who may pass. Here, a raised place is built to deny movement toward Asa, making access itself the pressure point.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that a fortified boundary is merely defensive; its stated purpose is to cut off movement to Judah’s king.
THE ROOT
תֵּת
tēt
GROWS FROM
נתן
to give, set, or place
The Hebrew infinitive תֵּת (tēt, “to give”) stands behind “suffer”: the line pictures passage as something not granted to Asa. Here the old English “suffer” means permit, and the root adds the sense of movement being given or withheld.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
A gift is something given; the verse turns that giving into a question of whether passage is granted.
natun: given, set in place
נָתוּן
The root can describe something placed or made available, echoing how access is controlled here.
הָרָמָה
hā-Rāmāh
GROWS FROM
רום
to rise, be high
The name Ramah carries the sense of height or high place. The verse makes that height part of the scene: a built position becomes an instrument for controlling passage.
ALSO GROWS
ram: high, elevated
רָם
This branch makes the height embedded in Ramah’s name visible.
marom: height, high place
מָרוֹם
It echoes the elevated place-name that becomes a barrier to movement.
THE PATTERN
Control over who may go out and come in can either constrict a person’s movement or preserve their freedom of passage.
Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.THE THREAD
Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.The same paired Hebrew verbs appear: יָצָא (yatsa, “go out”) and בּוֹא (bo, “come in”). In 1 Kings they describe the movement Ramah is meant to stop; at Jericho, the same pair marks a city shut tight.
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