What Does 1 Samuel 24:20 Mean in the King James?
And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
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
King, reign, and kingdom share one Hebrew root, while “established” pictures that realm rising to stand in a hand.
THE MEANING
The verse names an outcome as already taking shape: a kingdom is coming to stand within the sphere of a hand’s authority. The repeated root for reigning binds the king, the act of ruling, and the realm together. It speaks now where a contested future feels uncertain: resistance does not by itself mean that what is taking shape will fail to stand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what is still contested cannot already be taking shape toward stability.
THE ROOT
מָלֹךְ תִּמְלֹךְ
mālōkh timlōkh mamlékhet
GROWS FROM
מלך
To reign or rule; the same root forms king, reigning, and kingdom.
“be king / kingdom” in this verse is mālōkh timlōkh mamlékhet. The Hebrew intensifies the promise with the infinitive absolute and finite verb מָלֹךְ תִּמְלֹךְ (mālōkh timlōkh), literally “reigning, you will reign.” English separates the king, the act of ruling, and the kingdom; Hebrew holds them in one root family.
ALSO GROWS
mālak: To reign or rule.
מָלַךְ
The repeated verb makes the act of reigning emphatic in this verse.
melekh: A king or ruler.
מֶלֶךְ
The English phrase “be king” names the person formed by the act of reigning.
mamlākāh: A kingdom or realm.
מַמְלָכָה
The realm belongs to the same root as the ruler and the act of ruling.
וְקָמָה
veqāmāh
GROWS FROM
קום
To rise, arise, or stand; in a causative form, to raise or establish.
“shall be established” in this verse is veqāmāh. The Hebrew form וְקָמָה (veqāmāh) means “and it will stand” or “rise.” “Established” carries that standing into English, while the root keeps the movement visible: Israel’s kingdom rises to stand in the sphere of a hand’s authority.
ALSO GROWS
qûm: To get up, arise, or stand.
קוּם
This is the basic movement behind the kingdom’s being established: it rises and stands.
hēqîm: To cause to stand, raise up, or establish.
הֵקִים
This causative form makes something stand, as in Genesis 6:18, where God says, “I will establish my covenant.”
māqōm: A place or location.
מָקוֹם
This noun comes from the same root of standing and marks the place where something takes its position.
THE PATTERN
Authority becomes visible when responsibility is placed into a person’s hand.
And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.THE THREAD
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.“Establish” in Genesis 6:18 comes from the same root, קום (qûm), as “shall be established” here. There the covenant is caused to stand; here the kingdom itself rises to stand.
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