What Does 1 Samuel 1:21 Mean in the King James?
And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.
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
A vow appears beside the yearly sacrifice as a word that enters the household’s recurring life instead of remaining an inward intention.
THE MEANING
Elkanah and his whole household go up for the yearly sacrifice, with his vow included in that journey toward the LORD. The verse holds a spoken commitment together with a recurring act of offering, giving the vow a place in shared life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A vow is finished once it is spoken. Here it remains part of the household’s life and action.
THE ROOT
נִדְרוֹ
nidro
GROWS FROM
נדר
n-d-r
To vow or make a pledge.
The Hebrew uses the same root for making a vow and for the vow itself. Set beside the yearly sacrifice, the word belongs to a commitment carried into recurring action.
ALSO GROWS
nadar: To vow or make a pledge.
נָדַר
The verb shows the act of making a commitment that the noun names.
neder: A vow or pledged commitment.
נֶדֶר
This noun is the same word family as the form translated “his vow” in the verse.
זֶבַח
zebach
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
To slaughter an animal for sacrifice.
The root keeps the act of slaughter visible beneath the English word “sacrifice.” The verse places that embodied offering beside a vow, joining spoken commitment with a concrete act.
ALSO GROWS
zavach: To slaughter or offer in sacrifice.
זָבַח
The verb names the action contained in the yearly sacrifice.
mizbeach: Altar.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar is the place associated with the sacrifice named by this root.
אֶלְקָנָה
Elqanah
GROWS FROM
קנה
q-n-h
To acquire, buy, or possess; in some contexts, to create.
Elkanah is commonly understood as “El has acquired” or “God has acquired,” joining אֵל (El, God) with קָנָה (qanah, acquire). His name stands beside the verse’s description of his whole household going up together, keeping the relationship with God present within the household’s identity.
ALSO GROWS
qanah: To acquire, buy, or possess.
קָנָה
This verb supplies the acquisition sense commonly heard in Elkanah’s name.
miqneh: Livestock or property; an acquired possession.
מִקְנֶה
This related noun carries the root’s sense of acquisition into something held or possessed.
THE PATTERN
A vow binds words to a commitment that takes form in action.
When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.THE THREAD
And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.The vow-root נדר (n-d-r) appears in both verses: Hannah vows in 1:11, and 1:21 names Elkanah’s vow. The shared root reveals distinct commitments from both within the household, not a single vow repeated.
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