What Does 1 Chronicles 11:13 Mean?
He was with David at Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where there was a portion of the field full of barley, and the people fled from the face of the Philistines.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
He was with David at Pas-dammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines.THE KEY
The clash gathers around a bounded share of food just as fear drives the people away.
THE MEANING
A plot full of barley stands exposed while the people run from danger. The verse holds ordinary provision and collective fear in the same frame.
THE ROOT
חֶלְקַת
ḥelqat
GROWS FROM
חלק
To divide, apportion, or share out.
“parcel” in this verse is ḥelqat. The Hebrew word names a plot as a portion set apart from a larger field. The battle gathers around a particular share of productive ground, making the provision itself part of the scene.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēleq: A portion or share.
חֵלֶק
It shows the plot as a bounded share of the ground.
ḥālaq: To divide or apportion.
חָלַק
It carries the act of setting a share apart into the word for the plot.
נֶאֶסְפוּ
ne'esfu
GROWS FROM
אסף
To gather or collect.
“gathered together” in this verse is ne'esfu. The Philistines gather for battle while the people flee; the verse sets a force collecting against a community dispersing. This root family also names harvest ingathering, echoing the crop in the field with the army assembling around it.
ALSO GROWS
ʾasifah: A gathering or assembly.
אֲסִיפָה
It extends the root’s sense of collecting into a group.
ʾasif: Harvest or ingathering.
אָסִיף
It uses the same root for gathering a field’s yield.
נָסוּ
nāsū
GROWS FROM
נוס
To flee or escape.
“fled” in this verse is nāsū. The people are defined here by their movement away from the Philistines. The same root family names both flight and refuge, placing escape and shelter within one field of meaning.
ALSO GROWS
menūsāh: Flight or rout.
מְנוּסָה
It names the act of fleeing that the people undertake.
mānōs: Refuge or escape.
מָנוֹס
It names a place or means of escape from danger.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places ordinary grain where basic provision feels exposed or insufficient.
After him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered into a troop where there was a plot of field full of lentils, and the people fled from the face of the Philistines.And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and gather ears of grain after him in whose eyes I shall find favor. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.There is a lad here, who has five barley loaves, and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?THE THREAD
There is a lad here, who has five barley loaves, and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?Here barley fills an exposed plot as people flee; in John, it becomes a child’s small store of food before a vast crowd. In both verses, ordinary grain marks provision under pressure.
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