What Does 1 Samuel 12:18 Mean in the King James?

So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.

1 Samuel 12:18 · 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

The Hebrew calls the thunder “voices,” so the LORD’s answer arrives not only as weather but as something the whole people can hear.

THE MEANING

A call to the LORD becomes audible and bodily in thunder and rain, reaching everyone at once. Fear gathers around both the LORD and Samuel: awe before the divine, fear before the human authority standing within the same moment.

THE ROOT

קֹלוֹת

qolot

GROWS FROM

קול

qol

Voice, sound

“thunder” in this verse is qolot. The word is plural: voices, which in a storm means thunderings. The storm’s sound carries the sense of many voices, so what reaches the people is both weather and an audible answer.

ALSO GROWS

qol: Voice, sound

קוֹל

This singular form shows that the thunder’s word belongs to the language of voice and sound.

qolot: Voices; thunderings

קֹלוֹת

This is the plural form used for the thunder that the people hear.

וַיִּתֵּן

wayyitten

GROWS FROM

נתן

natan

Give, set, place

“sent” in this verse is wayyitten. This root carries the sense of giving or placing. The same seed appears in words for a gift and for something given or placed, so the thunder and rain arrive as an event given into this very day.

ALSO GROWS

mattanah: Gift, present

מַתָּנָה

This branch shows the root’s sense of something given.

nathun: Given, placed

נָתוּן

This branch carries the root’s sense of something set into place.

וַיִּירָא

wayyira

GROWS FROM

ירא

yare

Fear, dread, awe

“feared” in this verse is wayyira. One verb governs the people’s response to both the LORD and Samuel, but its shade follows the object: awe toward the LORD and fear toward a human authority. The Hebrew holds both responses in one event without erasing the difference.

ALSO GROWS

yirah: Fear, awe

יִרְאָה

This noun names the response that rises before the LORD in the verse.

mora: Dread, awe

מוֹרָא

This branch carries the root’s weight of fear before a person or power.

THE PATTERN

Divine presence becomes publicly perceptible through signs that enter the shared, physical world.

And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

Exodus 9:23 · KJVThe LORD’s answer takes audible and visible form in thunder, hail, and fire moving across the ground.

Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

2 Chronicles 7:1 · KJVPrayer is followed by fire from heaven, making the divine response visible at the altar.

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:31 · KJVThe assembled people feel the answer as a shaken place and then speak with boldness.

THE THREAD

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.

Psalm 29:3 · KJV

The word translated “thunder” here is ⁨קֹלוֹת⁩ (qolot), “voices”; Psalm 29:3 uses ⁨קוֹל⁩ (qol), “voice,” and says the LORD thunders over the waters. The shared root lets the storm’s sound read as voice within the verse’s own language.

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