What Does 1 Samuel 14:40 Mean in the King James?

Then said he unto all Israel, Be ye on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people said unto Saul, Do what seemeth good unto thee.

1 Samuel 14:40 · 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 people place what counts as good inside Saul’s eyes.

THE MEANING

Here, Israel stands apart from Saul and Jonathan, then yields the choice to what looks good to Saul. The split is physical, but “in your eyes” makes the deeper division one of perspective: who gets to name what is good.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Collective assent does not mean the decision is held collectively; the people explicitly give Saul the choice.

THE ROOT

הַטּוֹב

ha-tov

GROWS FROM

ט־ו־ב

To be good, pleasant, or beneficial.

The phrase places “the good” inside Saul’s eyes, making his sight the reference point for the choice. The root can describe what is good or favorable, leaving open the difference between what looks good to the decision-maker and what is good beyond that vantage.

ALSO GROWS

yatav: Be good; do well.

יָטַב

This branch carries goodness from a quality into how something goes or is done.

heitiv: Do good; treat well; make better.

הֵיטִיב

Here, goodness becomes an action, the people tell Saul to do what he judges good.

לְעֵבֶר

leʿever

GROWS FROM

ע־ב־ר

To pass over or cross; what lies beyond.

The word rendered “side” also means what lies across or beyond, and its root names crossing. The verse makes the division spatially concrete: the people stand on one side, Saul and Jonathan on another, before judgment is placed in Saul’s sight.

ALSO GROWS

ʿavar: Pass over; cross.

עָבַר

The root’s movement across a boundary gives depth to the separation between the two groups.

maʿavar: Passage; crossing.

מַעֲבָר

This branch names a place or act of crossing, echoing the boundary the verse draws between the people and Saul.

ʿever: The far side; beyond.

עֵבֶר

This is the word used for each group’s “side,” presenting the split as one group on either side of a boundary.

THE PATTERN

Scripture locates a judgment in the eyes of the one who calls it good or right.

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Judges 17:6 · KJVThe same eye-based measure becomes each person’s own standard, showing how judgment can shift with the one who sees.

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

Proverbs 21:2 · KJVThe verse places a person’s self-assessment beside the weighing of the heart.

Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

Matthew 11:26 · KJVThe same pattern locates what seems good in the Father’s sight, making perspective explicit.

THE THREAD

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

Proverbs 21:2 · KJV

Proverbs uses the same Hebrew word ⁨עַיִן⁩ (ʿayin, eye) in “his own eyes.” Saul’s people place what is good in his sight; the proverb sets that sight beside the heart that is weighed, opening the question of what a human viewpoint can establish.

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