What Does 1 Samuel 15:31 Mean?
So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed down to the LORD.
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
So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.THE KEY
The Hebrew behind “worshipped” names Saul’s body bowing low; the verse shows his posture without claiming what is happening in his heart.
THE MEANING
Two movements stand together: Samuel turns back toward Saul, and Saul bends low before the LORD. The verse names the visible return and the bowed posture, while leaving Saul’s inward state unstated.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse unsettles the assumption that a visible act of worship, by itself, proves the worshipper’s inward state.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ
vayyishtachu
GROWS FROM
שחה
shachah
To bend low, bow down, or prostrate oneself.
“bowed down” in this verse is vayyishtachu. The Hebrew verb’s core image is bending low. “Worshipped” carries that visible bodily action here, while the text leaves Saul’s inward motive unstated.
ALSO GROWS
hishtachavah: To bow oneself, to prostrate.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This verbal form makes bowing a concrete action performed by the worshipper, the physical sense beneath “worshipped.”
mishtachaveh: One who is bowing or prostrating.
מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה
The same root can describe a person through the lowered action, showing worship here as an embodied posture.
שָׁאוּל
Sha’ul
GROWS FROM
שׁאל
sha’al
To ask, request, or seek.
Saul’s name means “asked for” or “requested.” In the preceding verse, he asks Samuel to honor him before the elders, so his name and request echo one another beside his bow to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
sha’al: To ask or request.
שָׁאַל
The name Saul comes from this root; the request for public honor in the preceding verse makes the name’s sense especially vivid.
she’elah: A request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun carries the same seed of asking, linking Saul’s name with the act of making a request.
וַיָּשָׁב
vayashav
GROWS FROM
שׁוב
shuv
To turn back, return, or restore.
“turned back” in this verse is vayashav. The same root can describe turning back, returning, or bringing something back. Samuel’s return is movement toward Saul, placed beside Saul’s downward bow without explaining what either movement means inwardly.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun carries the root’s motion of return, echoing Samuel’s turn back toward Saul.
heshiv: To bring back or restore.
הֵשִׁיב
The causative form shows the same root can describe bringing something back, adding a sense of return to Samuel’s action.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly presents worship as a body lowered before the one it honors.
And the man bent his head, and bowed down to the LORD.Enter, let us bow down and kneel before the face of the LORD who makes us.And when they had entered the house, they perceived the young child with Mary his mother, and fell to the ground and bowed down before him. And when they had opened their treasures, they brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.THE THREAD
Then Saul said, I have missed the mark. Yet give me weight now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and turn back with me, that I may bow down to the LORD your God.The Hebrew verb translated “worship” in both verses comes from שחה (shachah, “to bow down or prostrate”). Verse 30 names Saul’s request for public honor and asks Samuel to return with him so he can bow; verse 31 gives that return and bowing, while leaving their relation unresolved.
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