What Does 1 Samuel 1:20 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The child’s arrival carries Hannah’s request forward, so the answer still bears the sound of the asking.
THE MEANING
The verse holds asking and answer together: a longing brought before the LORD takes visible form in a child. Hannah’s explanation keeps the request present within the answer, so what arrives carries the memory of what was asked.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that an answered request no longer matters: Hannah’s words keep the asking attached to the answer.
THE ROOT
שְׁאִלְתִּיו
she'iltiv
GROWS FROM
שאל
ask, request
“asked him” in this verse is she'iltiv. The verb comes from שאל (sha’al, “ask, request”). Samuel’s name, שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemu’el, often understood as “heard by God”), is not formed from this root; Hannah’s words link the name to her asking through the story, keeping the answer tethered to the request.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: petition, request
שְׁאֵלָה
The request becomes a thing that can be named, echoing Hannah’s explanation for the child’s name.
Sha'ul: asked for, requested
שָׁאוּל
This branch describes one who is requested, bringing the root’s movement from asking toward what is asked for.
THE PATTERN
A request carried to God can become a visible answer that still bears witness to the asking.
And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.THE THREAD
For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:The Hebrew words translated “petition” and “asked” both grow from שאל (sha’al, “ask, request”). English separates the request from the act of asking, while the shared root holds them together in the answer Hannah names.
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