What Does 1 Samuel 10:3 Mean in the King James?
Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Beth-el, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine:
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 road to the house of God is not a solitary climb: others are already carrying provisions upward.
THE MEANING
Your movement toward God meets other people already moving the same way, carrying young goats, bread, and wine. Bethel means “house of God,” so the destination and the tangible goods belong to one scene: the approach is communal and embodied.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the way toward God must be walked alone gives way here: others are already moving upward with you.
THE ROOT
נֹשֵׂא
nōśēʾ
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-ś-ʾ
To lift, carry, or bear.
The repeated word for carrying gathers the men and their different loads into one image: the journey upward is made by people bearing something. The same root can describe bearing a weight beyond physical goods, widening what “carrying” holds in this scene.
ALSO GROWS
nāśîʾ: A leader or prince; traditionally understood as one lifted up.
נָשִׂיא
The root links carrying with being raised up, adding an echo of elevation to the men’s upward journey.
nāśāʾ ʿāwōn: To carry or bear crookedness, guilt, or its weight.
נָשָׂא עָוֹן
The same verb can describe bearing moral weight, showing that נשא reaches beyond physical cargo.
בֵּית־אֵל
Bēt-ʾĒl
GROWS FROM
בית
b-y-t
House or household.
Bethel names the destination by its nature: “house of God.” The name makes the upward journey concrete, placing these travelers and their carried goods on the way to a house.
ALSO GROWS
Bēt-ʾĒl: Bethel; house of God.
בֵּית־אֵל
The place-name tells you what the destination means before the travelers arrive.
Bēt-leḥem: Bethlehem; house of bread.
בֵּית לֶחֶם
The shared בית (“house”) element shows how Hebrew place-names can hold a nature in their name, just as Bethel names a house belonging to God.
עֹלִים
ʿōlîm
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To go up or ascend.
“going up” in this verse is ʿōlîm. The men are not merely traveling; the verb marks their movement as upward, toward God. This root also names an offering that “goes up,” joining pilgrimage and ascent in the language itself.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōlāh: An offering that ascends or goes up.
עֹלָה
The branch echoes the men’s upward movement toward God, though the verse itself describes them as traveling.
ʿăliyyāh: An ascent or upward movement.
עֲלִיָּה
This branch makes the direction explicit: their approach is marked by rising.
THE PATTERN
The approach to God unfolds through ordinary people and tangible provision along the way.
And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.THE THREAD
And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.The Hebrew verb נשא (nāśāʾ, “lift, carry, bear”) links the men carrying their loads here with God saying, “I will bear” in Isaiah. The shared root widens the image from what people carry on the road to the one who carries them.
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