What Does 1 Kings 15:29 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:
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 root behind the LORD’s “word” also names the act of speaking, and this verse says that word is fulfilled through the killing of an entire household.
THE MEANING
The verse holds together the total killing of Jeroboam’s house and the claim that it fulfills the LORD’s spoken word. “Not … any that breathed” makes the scope absolute: every living member is included, not only the ruler or his throne. The text places divine speech and human violence in the same frame, leaving the reader to face both claims together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that prophecy is only a forecast, untouched by what carries it out, is undone here: the verse names the slaughter as the word’s fulfillment.
THE ROOT
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; as a noun, a word, matter, or thing
“saying / spake” in this verse is devar. The KJV separates “saying” and “spake,” while Hebrew uses two forms of one root whose noun can mean both “word” and “matter” or “thing.” Here, that shared root links the LORD’s utterance to the slaughter named as its fulfillment.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word; matter; thing
דָּבָר
This is the noun translated “saying”; its range holds speech and the matter spoken of together.
dibber: He spoke
דִּבֶּר
This is the verb translated “spake”; it shares its root with the word whose fulfillment the verse describes.
הִשְׁאִיר
hishʾir
GROWS FROM
ש־א־ר
sh-ʾ-r
Remain; be left over
The Hebrew verb translated “left” belongs to the same root that produces “remnant.” The verse says no breath remained: it announces not merely a change of ruler but the elimination of every survivor in the house.
ALSO GROWS
sheʾar: Remainder; remnant
שְׁאָר
This branch makes the force of “left not” plain: the verse says there is no remainder.
sheʾerit: Remnant; surviving remainder
שְׁאֵרִית
The word for a surviving remnant shares the root of “left,” sharpening the verse’s claim that none survives.
THE PATTERN
A spoken word is presented as a measure events must meet, even when its fulfillment takes the form of destruction.
Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.THE THREAD
Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.“The word of the LORD” and “which the LORD spake” use the same Hebrew root for “word” and “spoke” found in 1 Kings 15:29. Here, too, fulfillment means the destruction of a ruling house, making the connection precise and stark.
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