What Does 1 Samuel 7:2 Mean?
And it came to pass, while the ark settled in Kirjathjearim, that the days multiplied, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel moaned after 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
And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.THE KEY
Israel does not lament away from the LORD; it laments after him, making grief itself a movement of longing.
THE MEANING
The Ark rests at Kiriath-jearim (קִרְיַת יְעָרִים, Qiryat Yeʿarim, “town of forests”), while Israel’s grief is directed after the LORD. A long ache can remain turned toward the one it longs for; sorrow and relationship occupy the same heart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that lament means the relationship has ended: here, the lament itself is directed after the LORD.
THE ROOT
אַחֲרֵי
ʾaḥărê
GROWS FROM
א־ח־ר
ʾ-ḥ-r
behind, afterward; what follows
“after” in this verse is ʾaḥărê. The word carries the sense of following behind, so the lament is not only sorrow but sorrow with a direction. Hebrew keeps grief and pursuit together in a way the English phrase can make easy to miss.
ALSO GROWS
ʾaḥar: after, behind; to follow
אַחַר
This form makes clear that “after the LORD” carries the sense of following him.
ʾaḥarit: latter end, what comes afterward
אַחֲרִית
The same root points toward what lies ahead, giving “after” both a following and a future-facing sense.
ʾaḥaron: last, rear
אַחֲרוֹן
This related form preserves the root’s sense of what is behind or comes later.
וַיִּנְהוּ
vayyinhu
GROWS FROM
נ־ה־ה
n-h-h
to wail, moan, lament
“moaned” in this verse is vayyinhu. The root evokes a voiced moan, not only a private feeling of sadness. Joined to “after,” that wailing becomes grief turned toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
nāhāh: to wail or mourn
נָהָה
This is the verb’s root sense: the people’s response is expressed as audible lament.
nəhî: lamentation, wailing
נְהִי
This related noun gives the same root’s wail a name as a form of grief.
קִרְיַת יְעָרִים
Qiryat Yeʿarim
GROWS FROM
י־ע־ר
y-ʿ-r
forest, woodland
“Kirjath-jearim” in this verse is Qiryat Yeʿarim. The place name means “town of forests,” preserving a landscape that the English proper name leaves hidden. The Ark’s resting place is not just a label on a map; its name carries the image of a wooded place while Israel’s longing continues.
ALSO GROWS
yaʿar: forest, woodland
יַעַר
This singular form supplies the forest element in the place name.
yeʿarim: forests
יְעָרִים
This plural form completes the name’s sense, “town of forests.”
THE PATTERN
Longing can remain faithful by giving grief a direction toward God.
To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart pants upon the channels of waters, so my living soul pants toward you, O God.With my living soul I have craved you in the night. Yea, with my breath within me I will seek you at dawn. For when your judgments are in the earth, those who settle in the world will be trained in alignment.For in this we groan, reaching to be clothed over with our dwelling from heaven.THE THREAD
You shall walk after the LORD your God, and stand in awe of him, and guard his commandments, and hear and respond to his voice, and you shall serve him, and cling to him.The Hebrew root אחר appears in “after the LORD” here and in “walk after the LORD your God” in Deuteronomy. In this verse, following takes the form of lament: even grief moves in the LORD’s direction.
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