What Does 1 Samuel 11:6 Mean?
And the breath of God rushed upon Saul when he heard those words, and his nostrils burned greatly.
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 Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.THE KEY
The breath of God surges upon Saul, and Hebrew names that surge with a root also used for pressing through and prospering.
THE MEANING
The tidings reach Saul as God’s breath surges upon him, and his anger burns greatly. The verse speaks into the present wherever what you hear, breath, and fierce heat meet, leaving the anger visible without mistaking it for calm.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that God’s breath can only be recognized as quiet calm: here it comes upon Saul in a moment marked by fierce anger.
THE ROOT
וַתִּצְלַח
wattitslaḥ
GROWS FROM
צלח
To press through or advance; in some forms, to succeed or prosper.
“rushed upon” in this verse is wattitslaḥ. The verb translated “came upon” carries the motion of a surge or advance. God’s breath does not merely rest on Saul in this sentence; it comes upon him with force.
ALSO GROWS
ṣālaḥ: To advance, pass through, succeed, or prosper.
צָלַח
This basic verb form shows the movement held in the verse’s “came upon”: a force pressing forward.
hiṣlîaḥ: To cause to succeed or make prosperous.
הִצְלִיחַ
This causative form carries the same root into an outcome, linking the idea of pressing forward with succeeding.
רוּחַ
rûaḥ
GROWS FROM
רוח
Moving air: wind or breath; also spirit.
The Hebrew word is ruach in every sense: breath, wind, and spirit are held together in one word. Here the KJV says “Spirit,” while the same word also names the breath and wind that move through the world.
ALSO GROWS
rûḥôt: Winds; the plural form of ruach.
רוּחוֹת
The plural keeps the same word at the root of “wind,” joining the breath that comes upon Saul to moving air.
rûḥî: My breath or spirit; ruach with a possessive ending.
רוּחִי
This form preserves the same word when it is spoken of as someone’s breath or spirit.
THE PATTERN
When God’s breath comes upon a person, the text shows its force through an outward response.
And when they came there to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him, and the breath of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.And the breath of the LORD rushed upon him, and he split him as one splits a young goat, and he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.And when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Set-Apart Breath and spoke the word of God with boldness.THE THREAD
And when they came there to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him, and the breath of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.The same Hebrew verb צלח (ṣālaḥ, to press through or advance) describes God’s רוּחַ (rûaḥ, breath) coming upon Saul before he prophesies. Here that same surge stands beside his anger burning greatly, so the recurring force is named before its expression changes.
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