What Does 1 Kings 2:41 Mean in the King James?
And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.
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
Returning inside the boundary does not cancel having crossed it.
THE MEANING
The verse holds both movements together: Shimei leaves Jerusalem for Gath and then returns. The return puts him back inside the boundary, but the departure remains the crossing Solomon had forbidden.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that coming back makes the earlier crossing no longer count.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשָׁב
wayyāšov
GROWS FROM
שׁ־וּ־ב
sh-u-v
turn back, return
“come again” in this verse is wayyāšov. The Hebrew verb is built on a root of turning or returning, so the verse marks Shimei’s return as a distinct movement after his departure. Being back in Jerusalem changes his location; it does not erase the path he took.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: return, turning
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch makes the root’s sense of turning visible beyond a simple change of location.
meshubah: turning away, apostasy
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root can describe a turning away, showing that its direction depends on what someone turns toward or away from.
שִׁמְעִי
Shimʿi
GROWS FROM
שׁ־מ־ע
sh-m-ʿ
hear, listen and respond
Shimei’s name comes from the root for hearing. The verse opens with news of his journey reaching Solomon, so the one whose name carries the sense of “heard” is now heard about.
ALSO GROWS
shema: hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This branch carries hearing into response, echoing how the report makes Shimei’s movement known.
shemuah: report, news
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch connects hearing with a report, bringing the sense of Shimei’s name close to the news that reaches Solomon.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ל־ם
sh-l-m
be whole, complete; wholeness
The name bears the sound of shalom, wholeness. The verse frames Shimei’s journey as a departure from Jerusalem and a return to it, while the root of returning keeps the journey itself in view.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: wholeness
שָׁלוֹם
This branch lets the name Jerusalem carry a sense of wholeness alongside its concrete place in the verse.
shalem: whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch gives the name’s wholeness a concrete quality, set against the departure and return the verse records.
THE PATTERN
An explicitly stated limit makes crossing it consequential, even when the movement is later reversed.
For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head.But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.THE THREAD
And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;The verb “return” here comes from שׁוּב (shuv, turn or return), the same root behind Shimei’s coming back. Deuteronomy uses that seed for turning back toward God, while this verse describes a physical return to Jerusalem; the shared root reveals the difference between being back in a place and turning back in allegiance.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us