What Does 1 Samuel 15:31 Mean in the King James?
So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.
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 Hebrew behind “worshipped” names Saul’s body bowing low; the verse shows his posture without claiming what is happening in his heart.
THE MEANING
Two movements stand together: Samuel turns back toward Saul, and Saul bends low before the LORD. The verse names the visible return and the bowed posture, while leaving Saul’s inward state unstated.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse unsettles the assumption that a visible act of worship, by itself, proves the worshipper’s inward state.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ
vayyishtachu
GROWS FROM
שחה
shachah
To bend low, bow down, or prostrate oneself.
The Hebrew verb’s core image is bending low. “Worshipped” carries that visible bodily action here, while the text leaves Saul’s inward motive unstated.
ALSO GROWS
hishtachavah: To bow oneself, to prostrate.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This verbal form makes bowing a concrete action performed by the worshipper, the physical sense beneath “worshipped.”
mishtachaveh: One who is bowing or prostrating.
מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה
The same root can describe a person through the lowered action, showing worship here as an embodied posture.
שָׁאוּל
Sha’ul
GROWS FROM
שׁאל
sha’al
To ask, request, or seek.
Saul’s name means “asked for” or “requested.” In the preceding verse, he asks Samuel to honor him before the elders, so his name and request echo one another beside his bow to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
sha’al: To ask or request.
שָׁאַל
The name Saul comes from this root; the request for public honor in the preceding verse makes the name’s sense especially vivid.
she’elah: A request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun carries the same seed of asking, linking Saul’s name with the act of making a request.
וַיָּשָׁב
vayashav
GROWS FROM
שׁוב
shuv
To turn back, return, or restore.
“turned again” in this verse is vayashav. The same root can describe turning back, returning, or bringing something back. Samuel’s return is movement toward Saul, placed beside Saul’s downward bow without explaining what either movement means inwardly.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun carries the root’s motion of return, echoing Samuel’s turn back toward Saul.
heshiv: To bring back or restore.
הֵשִׁיב
The causative form shows the same root can describe bringing something back, adding a sense of return to Samuel’s action.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly presents worship as a body lowered before the one it honors.
And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD.O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.THE THREAD
Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.The Hebrew verb translated “worship” in both verses comes from שחה (shachah, “to bow down or prostrate”). Verse 30 names Saul’s request for public honor and asks Samuel to return with him so he can bow; verse 31 gives that return and bowing, while leaving their relation unresolved.
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