What Does 1 Samuel 13:3 Mean in the King James?
And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
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 verse repeats “hear” because the strike’s reach lies in the news it sets moving across the land.
THE MEANING
A blow at a Philistine post does not stay local: the Philistines hear of it, and Saul sends the trumpet-call through the land so the Hebrews hear. You meet the verse at the passage from report to public summons, where an event’s reach grows through those who receive it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a strike at one outpost stays local is undone: its report reaches the Philistines, and Saul has the signal carried through all the land.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ
vayishme'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, take in what is heard.
“heard / hear” in this verse is vayishme'u. The same root appears first when the Philistines hear what Jonathan has done, then when Saul says the Hebrews are to hear. The repeated word makes hearing the hinge between a strike and the spread of its report.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; listen and respond.
שְׁמַע
This branch makes the verse’s repeated hearing carry the possibility of a response to what has been announced.
shemu'ah: Report, tidings.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is something received by hearing; the verse shows news moving from one group of hearers to another.
עִבְרִים
Ivrim
GROWS FROM
עבר
Pass over, cross over.
“Hebrews” carries the root sense of people from across, people marked by crossing over. Saul’s call addresses them by a name of passage just as the news itself crosses the land.
ALSO GROWS
avar: Pass over, cross.
עָבַר
This is the action at the root of the name; it gives “Hebrews” the sense of people associated with crossing.
ever: Beyond, across, the other side.
עֵבֶר
This branch shows the spatial sense carried in the name: the people from across, on the far side.
THE PATTERN
A public signal carries an event beyond its point of origin and gathers a wider response.
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?THE THREAD
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.The repeated Hebrew root שמע (shama, hear) marks both the Philistines hearing and Saul’s call for the Hebrews to hear. Here the same root appears in “hearken” and “obeying,” revealing that hearing can carry a response within it.
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