What Does 1 Samuel 9:23 Mean?
And Samuel said to the cook, Give the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, Set it beside 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 Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee.THE KEY
The portion is already counted out and set aside before it is brought forward; the verse makes care tangible as an assigned share.
THE MEANING
Care takes a precise shape here: a portion is given, kept beside the cook, and brought forward. Provision is a share deliberately held in readiness for its recipient; attention appears in what is placed and preserved.
THE ROOT
מָנָה
manah
GROWS FROM
מנה
The root מָנָה (manah) means to count, reckon, or appoint, and by extension to allot a share.
The word translated portion is מָנָה (manah), a share or allotment, from מנה (manah), the root of counting, numbering, and appointing. English names what is served; the Hebrew also carries the prior act of assigning, so the cook brings forward a share already designated.
ALSO GROWS
manah: To count, number, or appoint.
מָנָה
The verbal sense shows the counting and assigning carried beneath the portion in this verse.
moneh: One who counts or numbers.
מוֹנֶה
This form keeps the same root in view: an allotted share is something reckoned and designated.
THE PATTERN
A portion becomes care when it is made specific and held ready for its recipient.
And he lifted portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's portion was five hands greater than any of theirs. And they drank, and grew drunk with him.The LORD is the portion of my share and of my cup; you hold fast my lot.But one thing is needed. Mary has picked out the good portion, which will not be lifted from her.THE THREAD
And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.The Hebrew word וַיְמַן (wayman, appointed) translated prepared comes from the same root מנה (manah, count or appoint). Here the root names a portion assigned to someone; in Jonah it names what is appointed for someone, revealing the shared idea of deliberate allotment.
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