What Does 1 Kings 5:6 Mean in the King James?
Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.
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
Hebrew uses the same root for “knowest” and “can skill,” naming craftsmanship as knowledge embodied in action.
THE MEANING
This verse holds a shared undertaking together across unequal abilities: one side knows how to cut cedar where the other does not. Labor is joined, and the workers’ hire is agreed according to the terms named; recognizing another’s expertise becomes part of making the work possible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that lacking a skill means the work must stop or be done alone: expertise can come from elsewhere and be paid for.
THE ROOT
יֹדֵעַ
yōdēaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
to know or perceive; here, to know how through skilled familiarity
English uses two different words, “knowest” and “skill”, where Hebrew repeats the root ידע. The verse treats craft as a form of knowing: the cedar worker’s knowledge is carried in the ability to cut it.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: to know, perceive
יָדַע
The verse’s “thou knowest” uses this same root, joining recognition of expertise with the expertise itself.
daʿat: knowledge
דַּעַת
In 1 Kings 7:14, this branch names the knowledge used to work brass, showing how knowing and skilled making belong together.
THE PATTERN
Shared work advances when distinct abilities are recognized as knowledge the whole work needs.
Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.THE THREAD
He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.The word behind “cunning” here is דַּעַת (daʿat, knowledge), from the same root as “can skill” in the cedar verse. Cedar cutting and brasswork are both knowledge expressed through craft, each contributing to the larger work.
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