What Does 1 Samuel 4:14 Mean?
And when Eli heard the sound of the crying, he said, What is the sound of this uproar? And the man came in quickly and told Eli.
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 when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.THE KEY
A cry can reach the ear as sound before a report sets its cause plainly before the listener.
THE MEANING
You can hear distress before you know what has happened. The sound marks that something is wrong; the account lays the event before you so its meaning can take shape. What reaches you first may be only a tumult.
THE ROOT
וַיַּגֵּד
wayyagged
GROWS FROM
נגד
nagad
To be in front or make conspicuous; from this, to tell or declare.
“told” in this verse is wayyagged. The report is more than speech following a loud sound: this root links telling with setting something before a hearer. The event becomes visible in words after it first arrives as noise.
ALSO GROWS
nagad: To make known or declare.
נָגַד
This verb links telling with making a matter clear to someone.
neged: Before, opposite, or in front of.
נֶגֶד
This related word gives the root a spatial image: what is told is set before the listener.
צְעָקָה
tse'aqah
GROWS FROM
צעק
tsa'aq
To cry out, especially in distress or appeal.
“crying” in this verse is tse'aqah. This is not just noise; it is an outcry carrying distress. Eli hears it before its cause is known, and the messenger’s report gives words to what the cry alone cannot explain.
ALSO GROWS
tsa'aq: To cry out or call aloud.
צָעַק
The verb shows the outcry as an act of calling from distress.
tse'aqah: An outcry or cry for help.
צְעָקָה
This noun names the sound Eli hears, before he knows what has caused it.
הָמוֹן
hamon
GROWS FROM
הָמָה
hamah
To roar, murmur, or stir noisily.
“uproar” in this verse is hamon. English uses noise for both phrases, while the Hebrew moves from an outcry to hamon, a tumult or noisy multitude. The sound has swollen into commotion, but its cause remains unknown.
ALSO GROWS
hamah: To roar, murmur, or make a commotion.
הָמָה
The verb evokes sound that surges and stirs.
hamon: Tumult or a noisy multitude.
הָמוֹן
This noun gives the cry a collective scale: the sound is now a commotion.
THE PATTERN
A distress cry makes hidden need audible before its full cause is known.
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the bending low of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their drivers. For I know their pains.Then they cry out to the LORD in their narrowness, and he snatches them out of their narrow places.When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Son of David, have compassion on me.THE THREAD
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the bending low of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their drivers. For I know their pains.The same root צעק (tsa’aq, cry out) names the outcry Eli hears and the cry of the oppressed here. In 1 Samuel, the sound still needs a report to reveal what happened; here the cry is heard alongside the sorrow beneath it.
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