What Does 1 Samuel 9:6 Mean?
And he said to him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man of weight. All that he says comes, surely comes. Now let us go there, for perhaps he can show us our road that we should go.
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 unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.THE KEY
The verse pictures guidance as a word that arrives with enough weight to make a path walkable.
THE MEANING
When your next step is unclear, a word proven by what comes to pass can show you a path. Here, the way is something to tread, so direction becomes visible before the whole route is known.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You do not have to see the whole route before a way forward can be shown.
THE ROOT
בּוֹא יָבוֹא
bōʾ yābōʾ
GROWS FROM
בוא
Come, enter, arrive.
“comes, surely comes” in this verse is bōʾ yābōʾ. The Hebrew intensifies the promise by repeating the same root: literally, “coming, it will come.” The speech is pictured as something that arrives in reality, not merely as a prediction.
ALSO GROWS
hēvî: Bring; cause to come.
הֵבִיא
The same root can describe bringing something into arrival, echoing how the spoken word reaches its fulfillment.
māvōʾ: Entrance; approach.
מָבוֹא
A coming can also mark an entrance, giving the root a sense of something entering into view or into a place.
נִכְבָּד
nikhbād
GROWS FROM
כבד
Be heavy or weighty.
“a man of weight” in this verse is nikhbād. The man is described with a word from the root of weight: his standing has substance. The nearby claim that his words come to pass lets that weight be heard as more than reputation.
ALSO GROWS
kavod: Weight; glory.
כָּבוֹד
This familiar branch keeps weight inside the idea of glory, revealing the concrete sense beneath honor.
kibbēd: Honor; treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
To honor someone is to recognize the weight they carry, just as the verse presents this man’s speech as dependable.
דַּרְכֵּנוּ
darkēnū
GROWS FROM
דרך
Tread, step, or walk upon.
“road” in this verse is darkēnū. The word for “way” grows from the action of treading: a way is a course made for walking. The travelers ask for a route to be shown while they still do not know which way to go.
ALSO GROWS
derek: Way; road; course.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the noun in the verse: the way they hope will be shown to them.
darak: Tread; step; march.
דָּרַךְ
The verb beneath “way” makes guidance bodily and concrete: it points toward a path that can be walked.
THE PATTERN
When the next step is hidden, trustworthy guidance makes a walkable path visible.
Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.In all your ways, perceive him, and he straightens your paths.But if any of you is left behind in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without doubling and without taunting, and it will be given him.THE THREAD
Show me your ways, LORD; teach me your paths.“Ways” comes from the same derek root as “way” in this verse, with its sense of a course to tread. Here the request for a way to be shown opens into a direct request for the LORD to show and teach the path.
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