What Does 1 Samuel 13:9 Mean?
And Saul said, Bring near to me the ascending offering and the wholeness offerings. And he sent up the ascending offering.
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 Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “burnt offering” shares its root with “offered”: the offering is named by the motion of rising.
THE MEANING
You see both the ascending offering and the wholeness offerings called for, yet only the ascending offering is said to be offered. The verse holds that difference in view: wholeness is named beside an action whose motion is ascent.
THE ROOT
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh wayyaʿal
GROWS FROM
עלה
To go up, rise, ascend.
“sent up” in this verse is ʿōlāh wayyaʿal. English separates the noun “burnt offering” from the verb “offered,” but both carry the Hebrew root עלה. The sentence repeats the same rising motion in the offering’s name and in Saul’s action.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōlāh: Burnt offering; an ascending offering.
עֹלָה
The name itself carries the movement that the verse then describes.
wayyaʿal: And he caused to rise; here, “and he offered.”
וַיַּעַל
This verb repeats the root of עֹלָה, joining the act to the offering’s name.
שְׁלָמִים
shelamim
GROWS FROM
שלם
To be whole, complete, or intact.
“wholeness offerings” in this verse is shelamim. The Hebrew name behind “peace offerings” belongs to the same root-family as wholeness and completeness. So the verse places ascent beside wholeness, even though only the ascending offering is said to be offered.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Peace, wholeness.
שָׁלוֹם
It reveals the wholeness carried within the name of the shelamim.
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
It shows that the root describes integrity, not only the absence of conflict.
שָׁאוּל
Sha’ul
GROWS FROM
שאל
To ask or request; the name Sha’ul means “asked for.”
Saul’s name carries the sense “asked for.” Here the asked-for one speaks and directs that offerings be brought to him; the name and scene echo one another without being the same Hebrew word.
ALSO GROWS
sha’al: To ask, inquire, or request.
שָׁאַל
This verb supplies the root sense carried in Saul’s name.
she’elah: A request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun keeps the root’s asking sense visible alongside Saul’s command, “Bring hither to me.”
THE PATTERN
Offering is expressed as a movement of approach: something is brought near, rises, or is presented.
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.If his drawing near is a wholeness offering from the herd, male or female, he brings it near whole before the LORD.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.Genesis uses עֹלוֹת (ʿolot), “burnt offerings,” from the same root עלה as the verb translated “offered” here. The shared root lets you hear the motion inside both verses: the offering is what rises.
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