1 Kings 14:3
in 1 Kings 14Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the boy.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And take with thee ten loaves, and cakes, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he will tell thee what shall become of the child.
KJV
And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.
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This verse in 1 Kings 14
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
See the marginal reference The presents here were selected for the purpose of deception, being such as a poor country person would have been likely to bring. Jeroboam counted also on Ahijah’s blindness 1Ki 14:4 as favoring his plan of deception (compare Gen 27:1, Gen 27:22). Cracknels - See the margin. The Hebrew word is thought to mean a kind of cake which crumbled easily.
This site's exposition
At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick
on 1 Kings 14:1-3
Jeroboam's son falls sick, the first crack in the house the prophet promised him at 11:38, a sure house, the same phrase once spoken over David. Jeroboam does not repent of the altars at Bethel and Dan; instead he sends his wife in disguise to the very prophet who anointed him king, carrying ordinary peasant fare, ten loaves and cracknels and a cruse of honey, as if plain gifts could hide a king's wife from a man of God. The errand answers chapter 13's refusal to hear a man of God with a private visit to a different one, made in secret rather than in public defiance.
This site's exposition
ten loaves of bread, some cakes
Albert Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown both read the bread, cakes and honey as the gifts a poor country wife would bring to a prophet. Barnes notes that Jeroboam also counted on the dim eyes of Ahijah, told at verse 4, and compares blind Isaac at Genesis 27. The disguise fails at the door.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
And he did not want the queen to appear [before the prophet] without a present against the custom of the ancestors. Therefore "she took ten loaves of bread," that is, ten soldiers' biscuits, "a jar of honey and dry fruits": the Greek text has staphylas, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The withering of this branch of the family would, perhaps, be as sore an affliction to him as the withering of that branch of his body, ch. xiii. Such is the force of natural affection; our children are ourselves but once removed. Jeroboam's great desire, under this affliction, is to know what shall become of the child, whether he will live or die.
15 For the L ORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the L ORD to anger. 16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:94%@v15-16
And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him--This was a present in unison with the peasant character she assumed. Cracknels are a kind of sweet seed-cake.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Ten loaves - Probably common or household bread. Cracknels - נקדים nikkuddim, spotted, or perforated bread; thin cakes, pierced through with many holes, the same as is called Jews’ bread to the present day, and used by them at the passover. It was customary to give presents to all great personages; and no person consulted a prophet without bringing something in his hand.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלָקַ֣חַתְּ | velakachat | and you will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| בְּ֠יָדֵךְ | beyadekh | in hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| עֲשָׂרָ֨ה | ʾasarah | ten | H6235 → | 176 times |
| לֶ֧חֶם | lechem | bread[s] | H3899 → | 298 times |
| וְנִקֻּדִ֛ים | venikudim | and cakes | H5350 → | |
| וּבַקְבֻּ֥ק | uvakbuk | and a jar of | H1228 → | |
| דְּבַ֖שׁ | devash | honey | H1706 → | |
| וּבָ֣את | uvat | and you will go | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֵלָ֑יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| ה֚וּא | hu' | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| יַגִּ֣יד | yagid | he will tell | H5046 → | 370 times |
| לָ֔ךְ | lakh | to you | ||
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יִּֽהְיֶ֖ה | yihyeh | will it happen | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לַנָּֽעַר׃ | lanaar | to the lad | H5288 → | 239 times |
וְלָקַ֣חַתְּand you will take
velakachatH3947 →966 times
בְּ֠יָדֵךְin hand your
beyadekhH3027 →1618 times
עֲשָׂרָ֨הten
ʾasarahH6235 →176 times
לֶ֧חֶםbread[s]
lechemH3899 →298 times
וְנִקֻּדִ֛יםand cakes
venikudimH5350 →
וּבַקְבֻּ֥קand a jar of
uvakbukH1228 →
דְּבַ֖שׁhoney
devashH1706 →
וּבָ֣אתand you will go
uvatH935 →2568 times
אֵלָ֑יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
ה֚וּאhe
hu'H1931 →1879 times
יַגִּ֣ידhe will tell
yagidH5046 →370 times
לָ֔ךְto you
lakh
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
יִּֽהְיֶ֖הwill it happen
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
לַנָּֽעַר׃to the lad
lanaarH5288 →239 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Kings 4:42Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 9:7
“If we do go,” Saul replied, “what can we give the man? For the bread in our packs is gone, and there is no gift to take to the man of God. What do…
- John 6:9
“Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”
- Matthew 14:16–21
“They do not need to go away,” Jesus replied. “You give them something to eat.”
- John 6:13
So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
- 2 Kings 7:1
Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel,…
- 1 Samuel 9:7
Through
1 Kings 13:7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
it leads to
- 2 Kings 5:15
Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “Now I know for sure that there is no God in all the earth except in…
- 1 Samuel 9:7–8
“If we do go,” Saul replied, “what can we give the man? For the bread in our packs is gone, and there is no gift to take to the man of God. What do…
- 2 Kings 5:15
Through
2 Kings 5:5“Go now,” said the king of Aram, “and I will send you with a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman departed, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of…
it leads to
- Judges 14:12
“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets…
- Judges 14:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 14:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.