What Does 1 Samuel 11:11 Mean?
And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies, and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And it came to pass, that those who remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.
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 it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.THE KEY
The final measure of the defeat is the breaking of every bond among the survivors: no two are left together.
THE MEANING
A force enters the camp in three divisions during the morning watch and strikes through the heat of the day. Those who remain scatter until no two stay together. The verse holds the violence in view and shows defeat as the collapse of shared formation.
THE ROOT
וַיָּפֻצוּ
wayyāfutsû
GROWS FROM
פוץ
To scatter or disperse.
“scattered” in this verse is wayyāfutsû. The Hebrew verb names more than a retreat: it is a breaking apart into separate directions. The verse makes that dispersion concrete in its final image, no pair remains together.
ALSO GROWS
hēfîts: Scatter, disperse.
הֵפִיץ
This causative form shares the same root and shows scattering as an action that can be brought about.
nāfûts: Be scattered; scatter abroad.
נָפוּץ
The same root appears as a feared possibility in Genesis 11:4; here dispersion is the outcome the verse depicts.
אַשְׁמֹרֶת
’ashmōret
GROWS FROM
שמר
To keep, guard, or watch over.
“morning watch” in this verse is ’ashmōret. English can make “watch” sound like only a period of time; its Hebrew root carries the sense of keeping guard. The attack enters during the very interval marked by vigilance.
ALSO GROWS
shōmēr: A keeper, guard, or watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
This is one who performs the keeping contained in the root of “watch.”
mishmeret: A guard, charge, or appointed watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch shows the root extending from an act of guarding to an entrusted duty or watch.
רָאשִׁים
rāʾshîm
GROWS FROM
ראש
Head, top, or chief; by extension, a leading part or division.
The Hebrew says Saul set the people in “three heads,” rendered “three companies.” The organized divisions that enter the camp stand against the verse’s final image of survivors with no two together.
ALSO GROWS
rōsh: Head, top, or chief.
רֹאשׁ
This is the root word behind the phrase “three heads,” giving the divisions a concrete image of parts arranged as a body.
rēʾshît: Beginning or first part.
רֵאשִׁית
This related form carries the sense of what is foremost, another branch of the root’s image of a head or leading part.
THE PATTERN
A group’s formation shapes whether its members move as a coordinated body or scatter into isolation.
And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a horn in every man's hand, with empty jars, and torches within the jars.So the LORD scattered them from there across the face of all the earth; and they let go of building the city.Then Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night; for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered apart.THE THREAD
So the LORD scattered them from there across the face of all the earth; and they let go of building the city.The Hebrew verbs for “scattered” in these verses share the root פוץ, meaning to scatter or disperse. Genesis shows a people dispersed from their common building; here the same root ends with a defeated host so divided that no two remain together.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us