What Does 1 Kings 4:25 Mean in the King James?

And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

1 Kings 4:25 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for safety shares its root with trust, binding security to the confidence that lets a person settle.

THE MEANING

Safety here is tangible: a person can stay where they are, with food and shade within reach. The verse pictures provision spread widely enough that every person has a place to settle, from one border to the other. Wholeness touches daily life, not only an inner state.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the idea that peace is only an inward feeling: here safety includes a place to settle and provision at hand.

THE ROOT

לָבֶטַח

lāveṭaḥ

GROWS FROM

בטח

To trust, feel secure, or be confident.

The word translated “safely” belongs to the same root as the verb for trusting or relying. That link gives this scene a sense of settled confidence, alongside the visible provision of vine and fig tree.

ALSO GROWS

batach: To trust, rely, or feel confident.

בָּטַח

The verb form shows the same root as an act of reliance, linking security with confidence.

mivtaḥ: Confidence, security, or refuge.

מִבְטָח

This noun carries the root’s sense of dependable security, echoing the place to settle pictured in the verse.

THE PATTERN

Security becomes tangible when ordinary provision and freedom from fear reach each household.

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

Micah 4:4 · KJVThe same vine-and-fig-tree image makes safety visible as a person resting without fear beneath their own provision.

In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.

Zechariah 3:10 · KJVThe image again places ordinary security beneath the vine and fig tree, now shared in a neighbor’s presence.

THE THREAD

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8 · KJV

Psalm 4:8 uses the same betach root for “safety” and the same yashav root for “dwell.” It opens the public picture of settled life in Kings into the intimate experience of lying down and sleeping securely.

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