What Does 1 Kings 22:16 Mean in the King James?
And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?
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
“Adjure” is oath language: the demand binds speech to truth under the LORD’s name, which names his nature.
THE MEANING
The verse places truth under oath and anchors it in the LORD’s name as nature. It speaks now to the reader: authority can demand truth, but cannot make its own preference the measure of it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a forceful oath can make speech true is undone here: an oath binds a speaker to truth, but does not create it.
THE ROOT
מַשְׁבִּיעֶךָ
mashbiʿakha
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ב־ע
To swear or bind by an oath.
“adjure” in this verse is mashbiʿakha. The Hebrew makes this more than an emphatic request: the speaker places the other person under oath. The words that follow name what the oath is bound to, truth in the LORD’s nature.
ALSO GROWS
shavaʿ: Swear, take an oath.
שָׁבַע
This verb carries the oath sense inside “adjure”; speech is placed under solemn obligation.
shevuʿah: Oath, sworn commitment.
שְׁבוּעָה
The related noun makes clear that the demand carries the weight of a sworn commitment, not merely insistence.
אֱמֶת
emet
GROWS FROM
א־מ־ן
To be firm, steady, reliable.
“true” in this verse is emet. Truth here carries the sense of what is firm and reliable, not only a correct statement. Beside “in the name of the LORD,” it is grounded in the nature of the one invoked, not the preference of the person demanding it.
ALSO GROWS
amen: Firm; sure.
אָמֵן
The familiar response echoes the root’s sense of firmness, giving truth the quality of something that stands.
emunah: Steadiness, trust; leaning your full weight on something.
אֱמוּנָה
This branch shows the root’s movement from what is reliable to the trust placed in what holds firm.
THE PATTERN
Truth remains grounded in the reliability of God’s word and character, even when human authority pressures or rejects it.
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.THE THREAD
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.The Hebrew behind “speak my word faithfully” uses אֱמֶת (emet), the same word translated “true” here. The connection reveals that the oath is bound to the LORD’s word of truth, not to the demander’s preference.
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