What Does 1 Samuel 14:41 Mean in the King James?
Therefore Saul said unto the LORD God of Israel, Give a perfect lot. And Saul and Jonathan were taken: but the people escaped.
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 “perfect lot” asks for tamim, wholeness, and its answer separates Saul and Jonathan from the people who escape.
THE MEANING
A complete answer can divide what uncertainty blurs. Saul and Jonathan are caught; the people escape. The verse holds both outcomes at once, refusing to fold a whole group into one fate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A shared crisis does not mean everyone shares the same outcome.
THE ROOT
תָּמִים
tamim
GROWS FROM
תמם
t-m-m
To be whole, complete, or sound.
English can make “perfect” sound like a flaw-free rating; tamim carries the more basic sense of wholeness and completeness. The same root forms words for integrity and for the LORD’s complete instruction, so this lot is asked to yield an undivided result.
ALSO GROWS
tom: Integrity, completeness, wholeness.
תֹּם
This branch connects completeness with integrity, adding depth to “perfect” beyond flawlessness.
temimah: Whole or complete; rendered “perfect.”
תְּמִימָה
Psalm 19:7 uses this form for the LORD’s instruction, which converts the soul and makes the simple wise.
וַיִּלָּכֵד
wayyillaked
GROWS FROM
לכד
l-k-d
To catch, seize, or capture.
The verb behind “taken” comes from lakad: to catch or seize. Its branches include the snare and the one who catches, making the passive wording feel like capture rather than a mere selection.
ALSO GROWS
malkodet: A snare or trap.
מַלְכֹּדֶת
This branch gives “caught” a concrete image: a snare holds what falls into it.
lokhed: One who catches or captures.
לֹכֵד
The same root names the captor as well as the captured, emphasizing that Saul and Jonathan are caught by the lot’s result.
THE PATTERN
A lot can make a group’s unresolved question visible by assigning a particular outcome.
The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.THE THREAD
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.“Perfect” here and “perfect” in Psalm 19:7 come from תמם, carrying the sense of whole or complete. Here the lot distinguishes who is caught; there, the LORD’s complete instruction converts the soul and makes the simple wise.
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