What Does 1 Kings 4:31 Mean in the King James?
For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.
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
Wisdom’s reach appears in a shem (שֵׁם, shem: name as nature) known across the nations surrounding it.
THE MEANING
Wisdom here is discernment expressed as skillful capacity: וַיֶּחְכַּם (wayyeḥkam, “was wiser”) grows from חכם (ḥ-k-m, to be wise or skillful). Its reach crosses the circle of its bearers, and his shem (שֵׁם, shem: name, carrying identity and nature) is known among surrounding nations. The verse speaks now of insight becoming recognizable in a life and traveling beyond its immediate setting.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that wisdom is recognizable only within its own people dissolves here: the name carrying it is known among all the nations around.
THE ROOT
וַיֶּחְכַּם
wayyeḥkam
GROWS FROM
חכם
ḥ-k-m
To be wise or skillful; to exercise discernment in knowing how to act.
“wiser” in this verse is wayyeḥkam. The verb presents wisdom as a lived capacity, not merely a store of information. Its root names both the wise person and wisdom itself, linking discernment with practiced skill.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākām: A wise or skilled person
חָכָם
The comparison is rooted in a word that carries skill and discernment alongside wisdom.
ḥokhmāh: Wisdom
חָכְמָה
The same root names wisdom as a quality, joining the wise person to the capacity they embody.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom becomes visible through skilled action and character, and can be recognized beyond the people who carry it.
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.THE THREAD
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.The word translated “wisdom” is חָכְמָה (ḥokhmāh, wisdom), from the same חכם (ḥ-k-m, to be wise or skillful) root as “wiser” here. Proverbs presents this wisdom as something a person finds, connecting the reach recognized by nations with wisdom encountered in an individual life.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us