What Does 1 Kings 8:18 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.
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 begins as an inner aim to give the LORD’s nature a dwelling, and that beginning is already called good.
THE MEANING
A desire to make room for the LORD’s nature is seen and called good while it is still within you. Its worth does not wait for the finished structure: the intention itself is visible. The word for building can also reach toward forming a household, so the image holds a life taking shape around what the name represents.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an unfinished intention has no value: here, the purpose held in the heart is called good before the house is built.
THE ROOT
לִבְנוֹת
livnot
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
To build or establish; the word family can also describe being built up as a household.
English can make “build” sound like construction alone, but בנה (banah, “build or establish”) also speaks of a household taking shape; in Genesis 16:2, a form of this verb is rendered “obtain children.” The wish here can hold both a dwelling and a living household, each oriented toward the LORD’s name, his nature.
ALSO GROWS
banah: To build, raise, or establish.
בָּנָה
The house is a dwelling being established, while the root leaves room for the wider sense of bringing a household into being.
ibaneh: To be built up; in Genesis 16:2, the KJV renders this as “obtain children.”
אִבָּנֶה
This form shows how the construction image can extend to family formation, opening “house” toward a living household.
ben: Son; traditionally associated with building a family line.
בֵּן
The association echoes the household sense of building: a son can continue a house and its name.
לְבָבְךָ
levavekha
GROWS FROM
לבב
l-b-b
The inward center of thought, will, resolve, and desire.
English “heart” can sound like feeling alone, but לְבָבְךָ (levavekha, “your heart; your inner resolve”) is also where a plan can already exist. The verse calls the intention good while the house is still unbuilt.
ALSO GROWS
lev: The heart as the center of thought and intention.
לֵב
It shows that the “heart” in this verse includes the shaping of a plan, not emotion alone.
levavekha: Your heart or inward intention.
לְבָבְךָ
The proposed work is already present in this inward place before it takes outward form.
THE PATTERN
The inward intention is seen and valued before its outward work is complete.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.THE THREAD
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Both verses use לֵבָב (levav, “heart; inner intention”), giving the heart the sense of an inward center where a purpose is already held. What the outward result cannot yet show is already visible to the LORD.
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