What Does 1 Kings 5:14 Mean in the King James?
And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.
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 behind “courses” makes this a cycle of changes: each worker is sent away for a month, then returns home for two.
THE MEANING
You see a labor system governed by turns: one month in Lebanon, two at home, with Adoniram overseeing the levy. The schedule gives the work a boundary and a return home, while the levy and its overseer keep the burden visible.
THE ROOT
חֲלִיפוֹת
chalifot
GROWS FROM
חלף
ḥ-l-p
to pass on, change, or replace
English “courses” can sound like routes, while חלף (ḥ-l-p, to change or pass on) points to turns that succeed one another. Here, each month away gives way to two months at home: the levy is arranged as rotation, though that rhythm does not erase the burden.
ALSO GROWS
ḥalaf: to pass on, change, or succeed
חָלַף
The work period passes, giving way to the next turn in the schedule.
ḥalifah: a change or exchange, including a change of clothing
חֲלִיפָה
The word carries the sense of one state giving way to another, as the workers move between Lebanon and home.
taḥalifem: you change them
תַּחֲלִיפֵם
This form appears in Psalm 102:26, where garments are changed; the same root makes the changing of turns audible beneath “courses.”
וַיִּשְׁלָחֵם
vayishlechem
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
to send forth, release, or extend
The root of “sent” carries the sense of sending forth and releasing. Here the workers are sent to Lebanon within a schedule that also names their return home, so the departure has a defined turn.
ALSO GROWS
shillaḥ: he sent away or released
שִׁלַּח
The same root can name sending away; this verse shows the workers sent out to labor for a bounded period.
shulchan: table, an extended surface for provision
שֻׁלְחָן
The root’s reach toward an extended table brings provision into view alongside the labor sent forth to sustain life.
THE PATTERN
Labor is arranged in turns that make room for rest and return.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.THE THREAD
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:The root חלף (ḥ-l-p, to change or pass on) underlies both “courses” and “change” here. Psalm 102 uses it for changing a garment, opening the rota as a succession of turns: each month passes and gives way to another.
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