What Does 1 Kings 16:1 Mean in the King James?

Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

1 Kings 16:1 · 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.

THE KEY

The Hebrew word translated “word” can also mean a matter or affair, so this message enters the very situation it names.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s word reaches the reader amid real affairs, naming what power is doing and bringing it under a truth it cannot author. It meets Baasha’s rule directly; the messenger’s name, Jehu (⁨יֵהוּא⁩, Yēhû, “YHWH is he”), echoes the authority behind the address.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that God’s word stays abstract or distant from power: it arrives inside the affair it addresses.

THE ROOT

דְּבַר

dĕvar

GROWS FROM

ד־ב־ר

D-B-R

To speak; speech, word, matter, or affair.

Hebrew ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (dāḇār, “word/matter”) can name both what is spoken and the affair itself. The message is not detached from what it addresses: it arrives aimed at Baasha’s rule. Jehu’s name, ⁨יֵהוּא⁩ (Yēhû, “YHWH is he”), echoes the authority behind this address.

ALSO GROWS

dibber: He spoke; spoke a word.

דִּבֵּר

The spoken form shows the root as active speech, not merely a label for information.

devarim: Words, matters, or affairs.

דְּבָרִים

This branch preserves the link between what is said and the matter being addressed.

THE PATTERN

The word of God enters the world as effective speech: it accomplishes, establishes, and exposes.

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.

Isaiah 55:11 · KJVGod’s word reaches the matter for which it is sent and accomplishes its purpose.

For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

Psalm 33:9 · KJVThe verse joins speech directly to what comes to be and stands.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 · KJVGod’s word is living and active, reaching into what is hidden within a person.

THE THREAD

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 33:6 · KJV

The same Hebrew noun ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (dāḇār, “word/matter”) appears in both verses. There it is joined to the making of the heavens; here it enters the affairs of a king, showing speech reaching what it addresses.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us