What Does 1 Samuel 15:21 Mean in the King James?
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
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 offering does not change the identity of what is offered: the verse still names it as spoil from what was devoted to destruction.
THE MEANING
The verse keeps the taking and the offering side by side, so a sacred purpose cannot erase the act that supplies it. The animals remain identified as spoil and as part of what is marked for destruction even as they are carried toward sacrifice. Motive and action stay visible in the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A religiously good purpose automatically makes the means of obtaining an offering acceptable.
THE ROOT
חֵרֶם
ḥērem
GROWS FROM
ח־ר־ם
ḥ-r-m
To place under the ban; to devote irrevocably, often to destruction.
“utterly destroyed” in this verse is ḥērem. The Hebrew phrase is literally “the first” or “best” of what is devoted under the ban. That keeps the animals inside the category of the devoted thing even as they are carried toward sacrifice, so the offering does not dissolve the contradiction.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāram: To place under the ban or devote to destruction.
חָרַם
This verbal form names the action behind the phrase translated “utterly destroyed”: the animals already belong to what has been claimed by the ban.
ḥērem: A thing devoted under the ban.
חֵרֶם
This noun names the category the animals still occupy; calling them an offering does not remove them from it.
THE PATTERN
A sacred offering cannot cancel the claims of justice, obedience, or mercy.
To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.THE THREAD
And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;The KJV phrase “cursed thing” renders הַחֵרֶם (ha-ḥērem, the thing devoted under the ban), from the same root as the phrase “utterly destroyed” here. Deuteronomy says none of it is to cling to the hand; this verse shows the hand taking it and carrying it into worship.
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