What Does 1 Kings 5:12 Mean in the King James?

And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

1 Kings 5:12 · 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 peace here is the wholeness wisdom makes possible between two people, given a lasting shape through covenant.

THE MEANING

Wisdom is received in keeping with a promise, and its reach extends into the space between people. Peace takes covenant shape, giving a relationship a bond it can hold.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that peace is merely a pause in conflict or wisdom only private cleverness: here, wisdom reaches outward into a lasting bond between people.

THE ROOT

שָׁלוֹם

shalom

GROWS FROM

שלם

š-l-m

To be whole or complete; to make good or restore.

“peace” in this verse is shalom. The Hebrew ⁨שָׁלוֹם⁩ (shalom, wholeness) reaches beyond quiet between Hiram and Solomon to a relationship made sound. The covenant gives that wholeness a durable form.

ALSO GROWS

shalem: Whole, complete, intact.

שָׁלֵם

This branch shows that their peace is a condition of relational wholeness, not simply a moment without conflict.

shillēm: To make good, repay, or recompense.

שִׁלֵּם

This branch carries the sense of settling what is due, illuminating how a covenant can give peace a settled and mutual shape.

shelamim: Well-being or peace offerings.

שְׁלָמִים

This branch connects the root with shared well-being, widening peace from a private feeling to a condition held in relationship.

חָכְמָה

ḥokhmāh

GROWS FROM

חכם

ḥ-k-m

To be wise or skillful; wisdom as practical understanding.

The root ⁨חכם⁩ (ḥ-k-m) can describe both wisdom and skill, joining clear understanding with the ability to act well. In this verse, wisdom becomes visible in the peace and covenant formed between people.

ALSO GROWS

ḥākām: Wise or skillful.

חָכָם

This related word presents wisdom as a practiced capacity, whose effect can be seen in the relationship that follows.

ḥakhamim: Wise people; skilled ones.

חֲכָמִים

The plural branch carries wisdom into shared life, fitting a verse where its fruit appears between two people.

THE PATTERN

Wisdom and divine peace become visible when relationships are made whole across a divide.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

Proverbs 3:17 · KJVWisdom’s paths lead into ⁨שָׁלוֹם⁩ (shalom, wholeness), the same kind of relational peace shown between Hiram and Solomon.

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.

James 3:17 · KJVWisdom from above takes a peaceable form, joining inner understanding to how a person meets others.

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Ephesians 2:14 · KJVPeace is shown as the work of making two sides one, a wholeness that crosses a division.

THE THREAD

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

Proverbs 3:17 · KJV

The same ⁨שָׁלוֹם⁩ (shalom, wholeness) names the peace between Hiram and Solomon and the destination of wisdom’s paths. Together, the verses show peace as the shape wisdom takes when life between people becomes whole.

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