What Does 1 Kings 22:6 Mean in the King James?
Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
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 crowd’s agreement gives the forecast volume, while its key verb pictures victory as something the LORD places in the king’s hand.
THE MEANING
You can face a decision while a whole room supplies a confident answer. Four hundred voices tell the king to go and present victory as the LORD’s gift before the outcome is visible. Their agreement describes the force of the claim, while the truth of it remains a separate question.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A claim does not become God’s word merely because many confident voices repeat it.
THE ROOT
וְיִתֵּן
ve-yitten
GROWS FROM
נתן
give, set, place
“deliver” in this verse is ve-yitten. The Hebrew verb comes from נָתַן (natan, give, set, place), picturing Ramoth-gilead being placed in the king’s hand. That is the substance of the prophets’ assurance; the root itself leaves the truth of their forecast open.
ALSO GROWS
Gift: Gift; something given.
מַתָּנָה
The prediction casts victory as a gift bestowed on the king.
Giving: The act of giving or granting.
נְתִינָה
This branch makes the promised transfer explicit: the city is to be granted into the king’s hand.
וַיִּקְבֹּץ
vayyiqbotz
GROWS FROM
קבץ
gather, collect, assemble
The four hundred are presented as a gathered collective, giving their agreement a striking unity. The root describes their assembly, while leaving whether their shared forecast is true as a separate question.
ALSO GROWS
Gathering: A gathering or collection.
קִבּוּץ
The word preserves the image of many people brought together as one group.
Group: A group or collection.
קְבוּצָה
This branch echoes the gathered multitude whose shared voice answers the king.
THE PATTERN
A crowd’s certainty cannot authenticate a claim about God; its source and truth still have to be discerned.
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.THE THREAD
And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.Saul reads David’s arrival as God giving him into Saul’s hand; the same נתן (natan, give, set, place) root and handoff image underlie the prophets’ forecast here. In both verses, a speaker frames an anticipated outcome as God’s act, showing how divine certainty can be attached to a claim before it is borne out.
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