What Does 1 Samuel 14:51 Mean in the King James?

And Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.

1 Samuel 14:51 · 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 word “son” shares the root ⁨בנה⁩ (banah, “build”), so this genealogy presents a family line as something built through relation.

THE MEANING

Identity is carried through relation: Saul is named through Kish, and Abner is traced through Ner to Abiel. ⁨אבנר⁩ (Avner, “father of a lamp”) joins father and lamp; ⁨אביאל⁩ (Aviel, “my father is God”) joins father and God.

THE ROOT

בֵּן

ben

GROWS FROM

בנה

banah

Build, establish.

English “son” sounds like a fixed family label, but ⁨בֵּן⁩ (ben, “son”) belongs to the ⁨בנה⁩ (banah, “build”) word-family. Here that shared root lets descent read as continuity built from one generation into the next.

ALSO GROWS

ben: Son, descendant.

בֵּן

This branch names the person who carries a family line forward.

banah: To build, establish.

בָּנָה

This branch reveals the building sense carried by the word-family behind “son.”

binyan: Building, structure.

בִּנְיָן

This branch makes the family line legible as a structure formed across generations.

THE PATTERN

A person’s name enters scripture within a chain of kinship, where identity is carried through generations.

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Genesis 5:3 · KJVSeth is named within a line that carries likeness from parent to child.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1 · KJVThe opening names Jesus through a chain of descent reaching David and Abraham.

Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Luke 3:38 · KJVThe chain of names carries identity through generations all the way to Adam and God.

THE THREAD

And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

Genesis 16:2 · KJV

“Obtain children” renders a phrase built from ⁨בָּנָה⁩ (banah, “build”), the same root-family behind ⁨בֵּן⁩ (ben, “son”). The shared root lets the genealogy’s son-language carry the image of a family line being built.

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