What Does 1 Samuel 14:31 Mean in the King James?

And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were very faint.

1 Samuel 14:31 · 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.

THE KEY

The verse counts the ground the people win, then names the exhaustion it costs them.

THE MEANING

You can gain ground in a struggle and still be utterly spent; success does not erase the body’s cost. The verse holds the advance from Michmash to Aijalon beside the people’s exhaustion, making both real at once.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that a successful outcome proves the effort left you untouched.

THE ROOT

וַיָּעַף

vayya'aph

GROWS FROM

עיף

ʿ-y-p

To be weary or faint.

The verb says the people become weary: their exhaustion is the result of the day’s advance, not a detail the verse hides. The same root can describe a person as faint, keeping the focus on a real human condition rather than a judgment about character.

ALSO GROWS

ayef: Weary, faint; adjective.

עָיֵף

Isaiah uses this form for the faint, making visible the person who has reached this depleted state.

ayefah: Weary, faint; feminine form.

עֲיֵפָה

The same root describes weariness across grammatical forms, naming depletion as a condition rather than a personal failing.

THE PATTERN

Scripture treats weariness as consequential: it can leave people vulnerable, and it makes strength or rest matter.

And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

2 Samuel 17:2 · KJVWeariness changes what David and his people can withstand, and their opponent sees it as an opening.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Isaiah 40:29 · KJVThe faint are named as people whose lack of strength is real and met with strength.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 · KJVThe burdened are addressed in their weariness and offered rest.

THE THREAD

How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.

Deuteronomy 25:18 · KJV

The verb for the people becoming faint here comes from ⁨עיף⁩ (ʿ-y-p), the same root behind “faint” in Deuteronomy. There, the faint are left behind and attacked; here, the exhausted are the ones who have pressed forward. The shared root makes bodily depletion visible in both exposure and victory.

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