What Does 1 Kings 15:7 Mean in the King James?

Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

1 Kings 15:7 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse folds war into the king’s record of deeds, making conflict part of what his rule is remembered for.

THE MEANING

The record holds a ruler’s deeds beside the conflict running through his reign. For the reader now, the pairing shows how a life’s public work and struggle can belong to one account rather than two separate stories.

THE ROOT

מִלְחָמָה

milḥāmāh

GROWS FROM

ל־ח־ם

l-ḥ-m

to fight, to contend

The word translated “war” grows from a verb for fighting, so it names active contention, not only an abstract condition. The verse places that contest inside the account of a king’s deeds: the struggle becomes part of what his rule is remembered for.

ALSO GROWS

lāḥam: to fight, to engage in battle

לָחַם

The noun for war grows from an action: the verse’s conflict is something people actively do.

ʾîš milḥāmāh: a man of war, a warrior

אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה

This phrase uses the same word for war to describe a person in relation to battle, echoing how conflict is included in the king’s record.

THE PATTERN

Public authority is repeatedly made visible through its relationship to conflict.

Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

2 Chronicles 12:15 · KJVThe record places Rehoboam’s acts beside the wars that continually mark his reign.

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:8 · KJVWar appears as a recurring condition within the changing seasons of human life.

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

John 18:36 · KJVThe verse makes a kingdom’s nature visible through whether its servants fight.

THE THREAD

In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.

Job 5:20 · KJV

Job uses the same Hebrew word ⁨מִלְחָמָה⁩ (milḥāmāh, war), but places a person inside the danger of the sword. That echo opens the royal notice outward: war marks not only a king’s contested rule but also the vulnerability carried by those caught in it.

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