What Does 1 Samuel 3:17 Mean?
And he said, What is the word that the LORD has spoken to you? I pray you, do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide from me any of all the words that he spoke to you.
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 he said, What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.THE KEY
The Hebrew uses the same root for “the thing” and “what he spoke,” binding the spoken word to the matter Eli demands be brought into the open.
THE MEANING
A hard word is demanded in full, and the demand itself carries force: “hide it not” is backed by a curse. The urgency to know what has been spoken sits beside the pressure placed on the one asked to disclose it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie it breaks is that a demand for truth must be gentle or harmless; here, the demand is backed by a curse.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dābār
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; from this root comes דָּבָר (dābār), meaning “word,” “matter,” or “thing.”
English makes “thing” and “said” look like separate ideas, but both carry the same root here. The spoken word is itself the matter Eli demands to have disclosed.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
This is the “thing” Eli asks about: the content of what the LORD spoke.
dibber: He spoke
דִּבֶּר
This verb shares its root with “thing,” joining the spoken word to the matter being demanded.
THE PATTERN
A word entrusted to a hearer is brought into the open, even when it carries weight.
And Samuel set before him every word, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD. Let him do what is good in his eyes.For the Lord GOD does nothing, unless he uncovers his secret to his servants the prophets.For I have not drawn back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.THE THREAD
I do not cover your alignment within my heart. I speak your steadiness and your deliverance. I do not hide your faithful love and your truth from the great assembly.Psalm 40:10 brings the same two roots together: דִּבַּרְתִּי (dibbarti, “I declared”) comes from ד־ב־ר (d-b-r, speaking), and כִּחַדְתִּי (kiḥadti, “I concealed”) from כ־ח־ד (k-ḥ-d, concealment). The word spoken is made public rather than held back.
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