What Does 1 Kings 6:6 Mean in the King James?

The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

1 Kings 6:6 · 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 house gains room by reducing its outer edge, and the resulting ledges support beams without breaching its walls.

THE MEANING

You are shown a design in which wider chambers come from the outer wall stepping back level by level. The beams rest on those ledges instead of being fastened into the house’s walls. Expansion and protection hold together: more room appears while the inner wall remains intact.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the assumption that expansion must come by driving support into the core: the chambers widen as the outer wall steps back, and the beams rest without fastening into the house’s walls.

THE ROOT

מִגְרָעוֹת

migraʿot

GROWS FROM

גרע

Diminish, reduce; in a passive form, be held back.

“narrowed rests” in this verse is migraʿot. ⁨מִגְרָעוֹת⁩ (migraʿot) names the wall’s measured reductions, which leave ledges for the beams to rest on. The same root appears in words for diminishing and being held back: here, reducing the wall’s outer mass creates support while leaving its inner wall unpierced.

ALSO GROWS

tigraʿu: Diminish, subtract.

תִגְרְעוּ

This form shares the root’s consonants in Deuteronomy 4:2; there, subtraction is named plainly, while here the same root names reductions that shape the wall’s ledges.

nigraʿ: Be held back, be diminished.

נִגְרַע

Numbers 9:7 uses the same consonants for being kept back; in this verse, reduction takes physical form as a recessed support.

THE PATTERN

A dwelling expands sustainably when its boundaries are reshaped and its supports remain in place.

And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

1 Kings 6:10 · KJVThe adjoining chambers rest on the house through cedar timbers, showing added space held by defined support.

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

Isaiah 54:2 · KJVThe tent’s space grows as its boundary is extended and its stakes are strengthened.

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

Ephesians 2:21 · KJVThe building grows while its parts remain fitted together, keeping growth and structural coherence joined.

THE THREAD

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Deuteronomy 4:2 · KJV

⁨מִגְרָעוֹת⁩ (migraʿot, narrowed rests) and ⁨תִגְרְעוּ⁩ (tigraʿu, diminish) share the root ⁨גרע⁩ (gāraʿ, reduce). The root’s sense depends on what is reduced: here the wall is stepped back to create support, while this verse speaks of diminishing instruction.

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