What Does 1 Samuel 1:21 Mean?
And the man Elkanah went up with all his house to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and his vow.
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 the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.THE KEY
A vow appears beside the yearly sacrifice as a word that enters the household’s recurring life instead of remaining an inward intention.
THE MEANING
Elkanah and his whole household go up for the yearly sacrifice, with his vow included in that journey toward the LORD. The verse holds a spoken commitment together with a recurring act of offering, giving the vow a place in shared life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A vow is finished once it is spoken. Here it remains part of the household’s life and action.
THE ROOT
נִדְרוֹ
nidro
GROWS FROM
נדר
n-d-r
To vow or make a pledge.
The Hebrew uses the same root for making a vow and for the vow itself. Set beside the yearly sacrifice, the word belongs to a commitment carried into recurring action.
ALSO GROWS
nadar: To vow or make a pledge.
נָדַר
The verb shows the act of making a commitment that the noun names.
neder: A vow or pledged commitment.
נֶדֶר
This noun is the same word family as the form translated “his vow” in the verse.
זֶבַח
zebach
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
To slaughter an animal for sacrifice.
“the yearly sacrifice” in this verse is zebach. The root keeps the act of slaughter visible beneath the English word “sacrifice.” The verse places that embodied offering beside a vow, joining spoken commitment with a concrete act.
ALSO GROWS
zavach: To slaughter or offer in sacrifice.
זָבַח
The verb names the action contained in the yearly sacrifice.
mizbeach: Altar.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar is the place associated with the sacrifice named by this root.
אֶלְקָנָה
Elqanah
GROWS FROM
קנה
q-n-h
To acquire, buy, or possess; in some contexts, to create.
Elkanah is commonly understood as “El has acquired” or “God has acquired,” joining אֵל (El, God) with קָנָה (qanah, acquire). His name stands beside the verse’s description of his whole household going up together, keeping the relationship with God present within the household’s identity.
ALSO GROWS
qanah: To acquire, buy, or possess.
קָנָה
This verb supplies the acquisition sense commonly heard in Elkanah’s name.
miqneh: Livestock or property; an acquired possession.
מִקְנֶה
This related noun carries the root’s sense of acquisition into something held or possessed.
THE PATTERN
A vow binds words to a commitment that takes form in action.
When you vow a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not linger to make it whole, for the LORD your God will surely seek it from you, and it would be a shortcoming in you.I make whole my vows to the LORD, now in front of all his people.And Paul remained yet many days, then took his leave of the brothers and sailed for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow.THE THREAD
And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look upon the bending low of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but give your handmaid a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.The vow-root נדר (n-d-r) appears in both verses: Hannah vows in 1:11, and 1:21 names Elkanah’s vow. The shared root reveals distinct commitments from both within the household, not a single vow repeated.
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