What Does 1 Samuel 14:6 Mean?
And Jonathan said to the young man who carried his gear, Go, and let us cross over to the standing post of these uncircumcised. Perhaps the LORD will work for us, for there is no holding back for the LORD to deliver by many or by few.
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 Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.THE KEY
The word “restraint” names the very limit the sentence denies: no headcount can put a boundary around the LORD’s deliverance.
THE MEANING
The numbers beside you do not set the reach of the LORD’s deliverance. Whether many or few stand in view, the possibility of being brought out remains open because no human measure restrains the one who delivers.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a small number or a weak-looking position makes deliverance impossible; human scale is not the limit on the LORD.
THE ROOT
יָשַׁע
yāshaʿ
GROWS FROM
ישע
To deliver, bringing someone out from constriction into spaciousness.
“deliver” in this verse is yāshaʿ. English “save” can sound like a single rescue; this root carries the movement out of a narrow place into room to live. The related words for “deliverance” and “deliverer” carry the same seed, holding the act and its source together.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuʿah: deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun names the outcome of the same delivering action Jonathan names with “save.”
moshiaʿ: deliverer
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This word names the one who brings deliverance, showing that the act is not measured by the number of people around it.
מַעְצוֹר
maʿṣôr
GROWS FROM
עצר
To restrain, stop, or hold back.
English makes “restraint” sound abstract, but the Hebrew comes from a root for stopping or holding back. The sentence says no such stoppage bounds the LORD’s act of delivering, whether the visible force is large or small.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāṣar: to restrain, stop, or hold back
עָצַר
The verb names the action contained in the noun “restraint”: something being arrested or held back.
ʿāṣûr: restrained, held back
עָצוּר
This form describes the state of being stopped, the very limit the verse says does not bind the LORD’s deliverance.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance is not bounded by visible human capacity or numbers; its measure is the LORD’s ability.
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.And the LORD said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel boast against me, saying, My own hand has delivered me.But Jesus looked straight at them and said to them, With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.THE THREAD
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.“Save” here and “salvation” there grow from the same root, ישע (yashaʿ), meaning to deliver. The root joins the act of being brought out with the deliverance itself, showing that its measure is the LORD, not the number of people present.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us