Bible Strands
1 Kings 12:22
But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God interrupts Rehoboam’s military mobilization against the northern tribes by delivering a message through Shemaiah. This occurs immediately after Rehoboam gathers 180,000 chosen warriors in Jerusalem to restore his kingdom by force.
The words — The verse centers on דְּבַר (devar) = word and אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) = God, paired with וַיְהִי (va/y.Hi) = it came. This construction marks the message as a direct divine transmission rather than human advice.
The thread — This prophetic formula appears in 2 Chronicles 11:2, though that parallel uses "word of the LORD" (devar-YHWH) instead of "word of God." The motif of a "man of God" delivering divine commands also surfaces in Deuteronomy 33:1 and 1 Kings 13:1.
Why it lands — The text commands immediate cessation of the planned war by overriding royal military authority with divine instruction. It requires the reader to recognize that human strategy must yield to explicit divine direction.
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
But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 11:2 But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God:
- Deuteronomy 33:1 This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.
- 1 Kings 13:1 Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 13:4 Now when King Jeroboam, who was at the altar in Bethel, heard the word that the man of God had cried out against it, he stretched out his hand and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward him withered, so that he could not pull it back.
- 1 Kings 13:11 Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that the man had spoken to the king.
- 1 Kings 17:18 “O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”
- 1 Kings 17:24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is truth.”
- 2 Kings 4:16 And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God.”
- 2 Kings 4:22 And the woman called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and return.”
- 2 Kings 4:25 So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman.