What Does 1 Kings 19:8 Mean in the King James?
And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
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 long journey to the mount of God is carried by what the body receives.
THE MEANING
The food you take in becomes strength for a passage beyond the measure of one day. What sustains you can carry you toward an encounter you could not reach by effort alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that strength for a sacred journey must bypass bodily need: here, food eaten and drink received carry the journey forward.
THE ROOT
הָאֲכִילָה הַהִיא
haʾakhilah hahi
GROWS FROM
אכל
to eat, consume
The phrase means “that food,” formed from the same root as the verb “to eat.” Hebrew holds the act and what is eaten in one word-family: what enters him becomes the strength by which he goes.
ALSO GROWS
ʾākhal: to eat, consume
אָכַל
The verb names the act that makes the food part of him.
ʾōkhel: food, nourishment
אֹכֶל
This noun shows the root’s shift from eating to what is eaten.
maʾakhal: food, something eaten
מַאֲכָל
Another form keeps provision tied to the act of taking it in.
וַיֵּלֶךְ
vayelekh
GROWS FROM
הלך
to go, walk
“went” in this verse is vayelekh. The verse describes a real journey across the land: he goes toward Horeb. Beside the food-root אכל (ʾ-k-l, “eat, consume”), this root reveals the movement that nourishment makes possible.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: to go, walk
הָלַךְ
The root verb names movement along a way.
holekh: one going or walking
הוֹלֵךְ
This form describes a person in motion, like Elijah on the road.
halikhah: going, walking
הֲלִיכָה
This noun makes the movement itself visible as a journey.
THE PATTERN
Received provision renews capacity for a passage beyond ordinary strength.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.THE THREAD
And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.The “eat” of verse 7 and the “food” of verse 8 come from אכל (ʾ-k-l, “eat, consume”). Verse 7 names why the food is given, the journey is too great, and verse 8 shows that nourishment becoming strength for the road.
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