What Does 1 Kings 18:11 Mean in the King James?

And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

1 Kings 18:11 · 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 uses the same verb for “sayest” and “tell,” nesting Elijah’s message inside Obadiah’s speech.

THE MEANING

The verse places one utterance inside another: you say that you are to go and speak. The message gives a present fact a voice, Elijah is here, and carries that presence to someone beyond the speaker.

THE ROOT

אֹמֵר

ʾomer

GROWS FROM

אמר

To say or speak.

“sayest / tell” in this verse is ʾomer. English uses “sayest” and “tell,” but Hebrew uses two forms of one verb: ⁨אֹמֵר⁩ (ʾomer, you say) and ⁨אֱמֹר⁩ (ʾemor, say). The command to speak is itself carried inside someone else’s speech, so one voice holds the message before it travels.

ALSO GROWS

ʾimrah: Utterance or saying.

אִמְרָה

This noun from the same root makes speech itself visible as something that can be carried forward.

maʾamar: A saying, declaration, or decree.

מַאֲמָר

The root can give spoken words the force of a message passed on by another voice.

לֵךְ

lekh

GROWS FROM

הלך

To walk, go, or proceed by movement.

Here ⁨לֵךְ⁩ (lekh, go) is a travel-command: the speech must cross distance to reach its listener. The root also forms words for walking and a course of movement, binding the act of telling to the act of going.

ALSO GROWS

holekh: One who walks or goes.

הוֹלֵךְ

This form keeps the root’s bodily movement in view: the messenger carries the words by moving.

mahalakh: A course, movement, or progression.

מַהֲלָךְ

The message sets a course from the speaker to the person who must hear it.

THE PATTERN

A message passes through messengers, carrying one voice’s words into another person’s hearing.

Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.

Exodus 7:2 · KJVThe command passes from one speaker through another, with the words meant to move a listener to act.

But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

Jeremiah 1:7 · KJVThe message binds going and speaking together: the messenger carries words received from another voice.

He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

Luke 10:16 · KJVHearing a messenger’s words reaches through the messenger to the one who sent them.

THE THREAD

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Genesis 12:1 · KJV

This verse joins speech and movement too: “had said” comes from ⁨אמר⁩ (ʾamar, say), while “Get thee out” translates ⁨לֶךְ־לְךָ⁩ (lekh-lekha, go), from ⁨הלך⁩ (halakh, walk or go). As in 1 Kings 18:11, a spoken word sends someone into motion.

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