What Does 1 Kings 20:22 Mean in the King James?
And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.
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
Here, strength is not merely force; it is the firmness to see clearly before a threat returns.
THE MEANING
The warning meets you in the interval when one danger seems past and another return is possible. Being strengthened here means becoming firm enough to recognize what is happening and see what is approaching while there is still time to respond.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that surviving one crisis means the danger is finished: the verse names a return and ties strength to clear attention before it arrives.
THE ROOT
הִתְחַזֵּק
hitchazzeq
GROWS FROM
חזק
chazaq
Be firm, be strong, hold fast.
“strengthen thyself” in this verse is hitchazzeq. The command to strengthen yourself comes from a root of firmness and strength. Beside the commands to know and see, it presents strength as the steadiness to face what is coming with clear attention.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Become strong or firm.
חָזַק
The root’s basic sense gives the command its firmness: the king is to become steady before the threat arrives.
chizzeq: Strengthen or make firm.
חִזֵּק
This causative form shows the same root acting to make something stronger, connecting inner firmness with active preparation.
דַּע
daʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
yada
Know, perceive, recognize.
The KJV’s “mark” is a command to know and perceive. It calls for recognizing what is actually happening, so strength here is joined to discernment rather than blind force.
ALSO GROWS
yada: Know or perceive.
יָדַע
This is the root behind “mark”; it gives the warning a demand for direct recognition of the situation.
daʿat: Knowledge or knowing.
דַּעַת
This noun from the same root links the command to a kind of knowing that shapes how the king sees what he is doing.
תְּשׁוּבַת
teshuvat
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
Turn back, return.
“At the return of the year” names a threat that comes round again. The root makes the warning about a returning cycle, not a danger that can be assumed gone for good.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn back or return.
שׁוּב
This is the root’s basic motion, echoed in the year’s turn and the enemy’s expected return.
teshuvah: Return or turning.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun from the same root makes the cyclical sense audible: what has passed can turn back again.
THE PATTERN
A coming danger can be met more wisely when it is recognized before it arrives.
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.THE THREAD
Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.The phrase “strengthened himself” uses the same חזק root as “strengthen thyself” here. Chronicles shows that firmness alongside walls being built up and defenses prepared, opening this verse’s call to strength as readiness that meets the actual situation.
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