What Does Nehemiah 13:6 Mean in the King James?
But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:
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 word behind “leave” carries the act of asking: even the way back to wholeness can depend on a request to another authority.
THE MEANING
You can be away from a place that still matters to you; the time away is not an empty detail. Even a return can depend on another authority, and on waiting before permission arrives.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that wanting to return makes the timing yours to command; leave comes through an appeal to the king.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁאַלְתִּי
nish'alti
GROWS FROM
שאל
sha'al
ask, inquire, request
English presents “leave” as permission already in hand; the Hebrew verb carries the act of asking within it. The verse holds the waiting and the dependence together: return opens by request, not by sheer movement.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: request, petition
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun makes explicit the asking contained in the verb behind “obtained I leave.”
sha'ul: asked for, requested
שָׁאוּל
The name Sha’ul comes from the same root, showing how asking can name what is sought and received.
THE PATTERN
When an entrusted person is absent, decisions in their sphere fall to those who remain.
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.THE THREAD
Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.The Hebrew verb behind “obtained I leave” shares its root with Hannah’s “asked.” In both verses, what follows depends on a request made to someone with authority to grant it.
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