What Does 1 Kings 2:20 Mean in the King James?
Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say thee nay.
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 king gives his answer before he knows the request, making the first gift an open door to ask.
THE MEANING
You stand in the pause before a request’s content is spoken: she asks for one small petition, and the king answers before he hears what it is. The same Hebrew root runs through her petition and his invitation to ask, making welcome the first response. The verse leaves the request unnamed and lets you feel the assurance that precedes it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a request must be fully disclosed before it can be welcomed: here, the invitation comes before its contents.
THE ROOT
שאלה
she'elah
GROWS FROM
שאל
שאל (sha’al): to ask or request.
English gives petition and ask different shapes, but the Hebrew repeats שאל in the request and the king’s command to ask. The repeated root makes his reply part of the request’s opening: before its outcome is known, the asking itself is welcomed.
ALSO GROWS
sho'elet: I ask; I am asking.
שֹׁאֶלֶת
This is the petitioner’s own verb in the verse, from the same root as the petition she names.
she'ali: Ask!
שְׁאֲלִי
This is the king’s reply, repeating the root as an invitation to voice the request.
Sha'ul: Asked for; requested.
שָׁאוּל
This name is formed from the same root, giving a personal shape to what is sought or asked for.
THE PATTERN
An invitation to ask opens room for an answer before the request’s full shape is known.
In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.THE THREAD
In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.The Hebrew root שאל (sha’al, ask) appears in both the king’s invitation here and God’s invitation to Solomon. In each verse, the invitation arrives before the request is named, so the opening to ask is already a response.
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