Bible Strands
1 Kings 1:36
“Amen,” replied Benaiah son of Jehoiada. “May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, so declare it.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Benaiah son of Jehoiada responds to King David’s final succession command to anoint Solomon. He delivers this reply in the immediate context of David’s direct orders to Nathan, Zadok, and Benaiah.
The words — אָמֵן ('a.Men) translates literally as “so be it” or “truly,” functioning as a formal ratification. וַ/יַּ֨עַן (va/i.Ya.'an) denotes a structured or official reply to a royal decree rather than casual speech.
The thread — The term appears in Deuteronomy 27:15 as part of covenant curse responses and in 1 Chronicles 17:27 as a prayerful affirmation of God’s promise. The text places it here as a public confirmation of David’s succession, while interpreters note its later liturgical use in Jewish and Christian worship.
Why it lands — The passage records Benaiah’s immediate verbal compliance with a divinely authorized royal transfer. It requires the reader to acknowledge that covenant succession demands public affirmation and unhesitating alignment with God’s chosen ruler.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the Lord God of my lord the king say so too.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 27:15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- 1 Samuel 25:29 And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
- 1 Chronicles 17:27 So now You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O LORD, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever.”
- Psalms 18:2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- Psalms 63:1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
- Psalms 72:19 And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.
- Psalms 89:20 I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him.
- Psalms 89:26 He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock of my salvation.’
- Jeremiah 11:5 This was in order to establish the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is to this day.” “Amen, LORD,” I answered.
- Jeremiah 28:6 “Amen!” Jeremiah said. “May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied, and may He restore the articles of His house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.