What Does 1 Kings 4:20 Mean in the King James?
Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.
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 Hebrew repeats the root for abundance in “many” and “multitude,” then makes that abundance visible in food, drink, and shared joy.
THE MEANING
You see abundance as more than a number: it takes shape in people eating, drinking, and rejoicing together. Fullness appears in the ordinary life they share.
THE ROOT
רַבִּים
rabbim
GROWS FROM
רבב
To grow numerous, increase, or become abundant.
“many / multitude” in this verse is rabbim. The verse uses forms from the same abundance-root for both “many” and “multitude”: the people and the measure of their number are one repeated thought. Then it makes that abundance concrete in eating, drinking, and rejoicing together.
ALSO GROWS
rav: Many, great, or abundant.
רַב
This is abundance viewed as a quality of the people themselves.
rov: Multitude or abundance.
רֹב
The same root returns in the phrase “in multitude,” echoing the people’s abundance in its measure.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures abundance as increase that becomes visible in a gathered people, beyond what can be counted.
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;THE THREAD
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;The seashore-sand image holds abundance beyond counting. Here that abundance takes visible form in a people sharing food, drink, and joy.
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