What Does 1 Kings 8:13 Mean in the King James?
I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.
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 house is not merely built; it is made firm as a place for the One who takes a seat and remains.
THE MEANING
Here, building becomes a place made ready for abiding presence. The verse holds human work beside divine staying: a settled place, with abiding that reaches through the ages.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that divine presence is only a passing visit: the verse names a settled place and abiding through the ages.
THE ROOT
מָכוֹן
makon
GROWS FROM
כון
k-w-n
To establish, make firm, or prepare.
“Settled place” carries the sense of a place made firm, from the root kun, to establish or prepare. Paired with abiding, it presents the house as a prepared place for enduring presence.
ALSO GROWS
kun: Establish, make firm, prepare.
כּוּן
The place is described through the act of making something firm and ready.
nakhon: Firm, established, prepared.
נָכוֹן
This branch echoes the settled quality of the place named in the verse.
mekhonah: Base, stand, or foundation.
מְכוֹנָה
It extends the root’s sense of a firm supporting place.
לְשִׁבְתְּךָ
leshibtekha
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-v
To sit, settle, or dwell.
“abide” in this verse is leshibtekha. The Hebrew word for abiding comes from a root that also means sitting and settling. The verse’s abiding presence is pictured as taking a seat and remaining, rather than merely passing through.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: Sit, settle, dwell.
יָשַׁב
This is the root verb behind the verse’s word for abiding.
moshav: Seat, dwelling, settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch joins the ideas of a place to sit and a place to dwell.
yoshev: One who sits or dwells; an inhabitant.
יוֹשֵׁב
It describes someone who has taken up residence, matching the verse’s enduring presence.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents divine dwelling as presence made at home among people, in a place prepared for abiding.
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.“Dwell” here shares the Hebrew root yashav with “abide” in 1 Kings 8:13: to sit, settle, or dwell. The settled place becomes God’s chosen rest, revealing abiding as taking a seat and remaining.
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