What Does 1 Kings 7:4 Mean in the King James?

And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.

1 Kings 7:4 · 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.

THE KEY

The Hebrew picture is opening facing opening: light passes through a structure built to let sight meet sight.

THE MEANING

You are in a space where each opening faces another, letting sight pass through in repeated, aligned rows. “Light against light” holds both the brightness and the facing apertures that make a clear passage through the building.

THE ROOT

מֶחֱזָה

meḥĕzāh

GROWS FROM

חזה

To see or behold.

The word rendered “light” here is ⁨מֶחֱזָה⁩, an opening or sightline, from the root ⁨חזה⁩, “to see.” Repeated opening facing opening makes the building a passage for sight, a connection English can obscure when it presents only “light against light.”

ALSO GROWS

ḥāzâ: To see, behold.

חָזָה

The verb gives the root’s basic action: sight passing through the aligned openings.

ḥōzeh: A seer, one who sees.

חֹזֶה

This form names one who perceives, carrying the same seeing root found in the verse’s opening.

maḥăzeh: A vision or spectacle.

מַחֲזֶה

This related form names what is seen, echoing the opening’s role as a place where sight becomes possible.

THE PATTERN

Light and perception become visible where an opening receives and transmits what is before it.

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Psalm 119:130 · KJVAn entrance becomes a passage through which light and understanding come into view.

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Matthew 6:22 · KJVThe eye functions as an opening through which light fills the body.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 1:18 · KJVUnderstanding is pictured as eyes receiving light so that what was unseen becomes perceptible.

THE THREAD

He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

Numbers 24:4 · KJV

The opening word in 1 Kings comes from ⁨חזה⁩, “to see”; here the related ⁨מַחֲזֶה⁩ names a vision, and the verse also says “saw.” The shared root links the architectural opening with sight made visible.

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