What Does 1 Chronicles 14:10 Mean?
And David asked God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand? And the LORD said to him, Go up, for I will give them into your hand.
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
And David enquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand.THE KEY
The word translated “deliver” means “give,” so David’s hand receives what God promises to place there even as David is told to go up.
THE MEANING
Your uncertainty about a next step is met here by a question that names both movement and outcome. The answer gives a clear direction, “Go up”, and promises the Philistines into David’s hand. The verse holds action and reception together: the hand that moves also receives what God gives.
THE ROOT
נָתַן
natan u-netattim
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
Give, set, place.
“give ... into my hand” in this verse is natan u-netattim. The question and the answer use forms of the same verb: David asks whether God will give the Philistines into his hand, and God says, “I will give them into your hand.” English “deliver” can conceal that repeated act of giving; here, the outcome is placed into the hand that is told to act.
ALSO GROWS
mattan: Gift, present.
מַתָּן
This noun from the same root makes visible the giving already inside “deliver”: what reaches the hand is received as a gift.
mattanah: Gift, present.
מַתָּנָה
Like the promise in this verse, a mattanah is something given; the shared root links the promised outcome with an act of giving.
וַיִּשְׁאַל
vayyish'al from sha'al
GROWS FROM
שאל
sh-ʾ-l
Ask, request.
“asked” in this verse is vayyish'al from sha'al. The verb carries the plain force of asking for an answer, not merely considering a question inwardly. David’s asking names two things directly: whether to go up and whether God will give the Philistines into his hand.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: Question, request.
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun from the same root shows the request-shaped quality of David’s inquiry: he asks for direction and for an answer about the outcome.
Sha'ul: Asked for; the name Saul.
שָׁאוּל
The name preserves the same root of asking, echoing how this passage presents asking as an explicit request for an answer.
THE PATTERN
A sought answer can join a clear next step with a promise of provision.
And David asked of the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail snatch back all.I make you wise, and I teach you in the way you walk. I guide you with my eye upon you.But if any of you is left behind in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without doubling and without taunting, and it will be given him.THE THREAD
Then David asked of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him and said, Rise, go down to Keilah; for I will give the Philistines into your hand.This verse uses the same root, נתן (natan, “give”), for what the KJV also renders “deliver.” The repeated wording makes the movement clear: David’s hand goes into action, while the victory is spoken of as something God gives into that hand.
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