What Does 1 Samuel 14:4 Mean in the King James?
And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
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
Hebrew uses one crossing-root for both the passages and Jonathan’s going over, making the route and the act two faces of the same movement.
THE MEANING
You see a crossing before it is completed: two tooth-like rocks mark its edges. One is Bozez (בּוֹצֵץ, bōṣēṣ, “shining” or “glistening”); the other is Seneh (סֶנֶּה, seneh, “thornbush”). The passage holds movement and danger in the same frame, without making either disappear.
THE ROOT
מַעֲבָרוֹת
ma'avarot
GROWS FROM
עבר
Cross over, pass through, move to the other side.
“passages / go over” in this verse is ma'avarot. The Hebrew word for the passages and the verb for Jonathan going over share the root עבר. English separates the place from the action, while Hebrew joins them as one crossing.
ALSO GROWS
ma'avar: Passage, crossing, or ford
מַעֲבָר
It names a place by the crossing it makes possible.
ever: Beyond, across, or the other side
עֵבֶר
The far side, too, belongs to the same crossing-root.
שֵׁן הַסֶּלַע
shen ha-sela
GROWS FROM
שנן
Sharpen or whet; the related noun שֵׁן names a tooth, its pointed edge.
The Hebrew image beneath “sharp rock” is “tooth of the cliff.” That tooth-image shares a root with sharpening, so the crossing is framed by edges that cut.
ALSO GROWS
shen: Tooth
שֵׁן
This is the word used for each pointed rock edge in the verse.
shinnantam: Sharpen them; rendered “teach them diligently” in Deuteronomy 6:7
שִׁנַּנְתָּם
The sharpening image also describes words impressed deeply, extending the root beyond a physical edge.
THE PATTERN
Movement to the other side takes shape as passage through a real boundary.
And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.THE THREAD
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.The word translated “passest” is עָבַר (avar, “cross over”), the same root behind both “passages” and “go over” in this verse. Isaiah carries that crossing-root into the reader’s passage through water and fire: the boundary is named, and movement through it remains possible.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us