What Does 1 Samuel 11:4 Mean in the King James?

Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.

1 Samuel 11:4 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

A report here is not detached information: it becomes the shared matter the people hear and grieve together.

THE MEANING

A hard report reaches you, and sorrow moves through the people in raised voices and tears. Grief here is public, audible, and shared.

THE ROOT

הַדְּבָרִים

haddevarim

GROWS FROM

דבר

davar

The root carries the sense of speaking; its noun can mean a word, a matter, or a thing.

English “tidings” can sound like information detached from reality; the Hebrew noun ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (davar, word or matter) holds spoken word and the matter itself together. What reaches the people’s ears is already a shared event, and their raised voices and tears show how it lands.

ALSO GROWS

davar: word, matter, thing

דָּבָר

The verse uses its plural, ⁨הַדְּבָרִים⁩ (haddevarim, words or matters), for the tidings: the spoken report is also the matter now before everyone.

dibber: spoke, uttered

דִּבֵּר

This verb shares the root, showing how the messengers deliver the matter as spoken words into the people’s ears.

THE PATTERN

When grief is received or shared, it becomes audible and visible through weeping.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

Nehemiah 1:4 · KJVDistressing words land in the hearer as weeping and mourning.

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

Psalm 6:8 · KJVThe psalm gives grief a voice, echoing the raised voices and tears here.

And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him,

Acts 20:37 · KJVA whole group answers separation with visible, shared weeping.

THE THREAD

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

Psalm 6:8 · KJV

The Hebrew verb ⁨וַיִּבְכּוּ⁩ (vayivku, they wept) here and ⁨בְּכִי⁩ (bekhi, weeping) in the psalm share the root ⁨בכה⁩ (bakah, to weep). The psalm adds what this verse leaves open: grief has a voice, and that voice is heard.

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