What Does 1 Samuel 10:20 Mean?
And when Samuel had made all the tribes of Israel draw near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
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 when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.THE KEY
What English calls Benjamin being “taken,” Hebrew frames as being “caught”, selection carries the force of capture.
THE MEANING
All the tribes of Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל, Yisra’el, “one who contends with God”) are brought near, and Benjamin (בִּנְיָמִין, Binyamin, “son of the right hand”) is caught out from among them. Being singled out carries the force of being caught in what is unfolding, rather than simply noticed. The verse holds nearness and capture together.
THE ROOT
וַיִּלָּכֵד
wayyillaked
GROWS FROM
לכד
l-k-d
Catch, seize, capture.
“was taken” in this verse is wayyillaked. English “taken” can sound neutral, but לכד (lakad, catch or seize) carries the force of capture. The verse makes Benjamin’s selection feel like being caught out of the whole; the same root also names a snare that catches.
ALSO GROWS
lakad: To catch, seize, or capture.
לָכַד
This active form names the act behind the verse’s passive “was taken.”
malkodet: Snare or trap.
מַלְכֹּדֶת
A snare catches and holds; this branch preserves the force that the English word “taken” can leave hidden.
וַיַּקְרֵב
wayyaqrev
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Approach, draw near.
“made draw near” in this verse is wayyaqrev. The tribes are brought near before Benjamin is caught out. This root also forms words for drawing near and for close combat, carrying nearness as contact rather than mere distance.
ALSO GROWS
qorban: Drawing near; an offering.
קוֹרְבָּן
The word describes an offering through its movement toward God, echoing the tribes being brought near.
qerav: Battle or combat.
קְרָב
Combat brings parties into close contact, revealing how this root’s nearness can mean more than physical proximity.
THE PATTERN
A collective brought into a process of selection can have one person or part singled out.
The lot is thrown into the lap, but all its judgment is from the LORD.And they said each to his fellow, Come, let us make the lots fall, so that we may know on whose account this evil is upon us. So they made the lots fall, and the lot fell upon Jonah.And they cast their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven sent ones.THE THREAD
And he brought near his house man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was seized.“Was taken” is again וַיִּלָּכֵד (wayyillaked), from לכד (lakad, catch or seize). As with Benjamin, the word marks someone singled out from a larger group, carrying the force of being caught.
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