What Does 1 Kings 22:5 Mean in the King James?
And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.
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 is asked to seek a word for this day, because *davar* is both an utterance and the matter it speaks into.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a decision open until the LORD’s word is sought today. Its living pressure is that the matter before the reader is held up to a voice beyond the confidence of the people making the choice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that a human decision-maker can settle the matter without asking what the LORD says.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
davar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak or utter; as a noun, a word, matter, or thing.
English “word” can sound like language detached from events, but *davar* can name both an utterance and the matter at hand. The request is for the LORD’s word in the actual decision before them, today.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken act and the word share the same root: the sought word is speech, not merely a label.
devarim: Words, matters, or things.
דְּבָרִים
This plural keeps utterance and matter within one word-family, giving the LORD’s word a bearing on what is happening now.
דְּרָשׁ
derash
GROWS FROM
דרש
To seek, inquire, or resort to.
“Enquire” in this verse is derash. The request carries the sense of seeking out and consulting, not simply asking a passing question. The word of the LORD is something to be sought for the present matter.
ALSO GROWS
derishah: Inquiry or investigation.
דְּרִישָׁה
It shows the searching quality held in the request to enquire.
midrash: Inquiry or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
This related form preserves the same movement of seeking and drawing out meaning.
יְהוֹשָׁפָט
Yehoshafat
GROWS FROM
שפט
To judge or decide.
“Jehoshaphat” in this verse is Yehoshafat. The name carries the sense “YHWH has judged.” In this sentence, the one bearing that name calls for the LORD’s word, placing the matter under divine judgment rather than treating a human decision as final.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: A judge.
שֹׁפֵט
The name’s root appears in the word for one who judges.
mishpat: Judgment or justice.
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch connects the name to the act or outcome of judgment.
THE PATTERN
Direction begins when the present matter is brought before God and his word is allowed to shape the path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.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
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.The word translated “word” is the same Hebrew *davar* (דָּבָר), which can name both utterance and matter. Together, the verses present the LORD’s word as something that meets the real conditions of a person’s life, not as detached information.
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