What Does 1 Kings 8:27 Mean in the King James?
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
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
Even the heavens cannot contain God, so no house can turn the presence it honors into something bounded.
THE MEANING
When you ask whether God dwells on earth, the verse answers by making every boundary feel small: even the heavens cannot contain God. The house you build can honor a real encounter, but it cannot enclose the presence it names.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God is limited to the sacred spaces people build, or that a human-made place can contain God.
THE ROOT
יֵשֵׁב
yēšēv
GROWS FROM
ישב
ישב (yāshav): sit, settle, remain, dwell.
“dwell” in this verse is yēšēv. This root holds dwelling together with sitting and settling: the question is whether God takes up a settled place within the earth. The next clause presses the limit further, even the heavens cannot serve as a container for God.
ALSO GROWS
yāshav: to sit or dwell
יָשַׁב
The same root names taking a place and dwelling there, sharpening the verse’s question about God’s place within creation.
yōshēv: one who sits or dwells; an inhabitant
יֹשֵׁב
The root also names an inhabitant, while this verse refuses to make the earth, or even the heavens, a boundary for God.
בָּנִיתִי
bānîti
GROWS FROM
בנה
בנה (bānāh): build, construct.
“builded” in this verse is bānîti. The root names the human act that makes the house, while the verse places that house beneath the heavens and finds both too small to contain God. Building can give a place form without giving God a boundary.
ALSO GROWS
bānāh: he built
בָּנָה
This verb is the same build-root in another form; it keeps the verse’s focus on a made structure and the limits of making.
mivneh: structure, construction
מִבְנֶה
This noun names a structure made from the same root, showing how the house belongs to the world of built forms that cannot contain God.
THE PATTERN
No created or human-built space can contain God.
Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,THE THREAD
Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?Isaiah uses the same Hebrew build-root בנה (bānāh, “build”) in God’s question about the house made for him. The shared root links Solomon’s house to God’s own question: building makes a house, but it cannot set God’s boundary.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us