What Does 1 Samuel 15:5 Mean in the King James?

And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.

1 Samuel 15:5 · 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 verse places the asked-for king under cover: here, the waiting is already part of the violence.

THE MEANING

Violence is already taking shape before a blow lands: Saul is concealed in the valley, and the waiting is part of the attack. The verse holds you in the moment when concealment has given violence a position, though the strike is still ahead.

THE ROOT

שָׁאוּל

Sha'ul

GROWS FROM

שׁאל

to ask, request

Saul’s name carries the sense of “the asked-for one.” The requested king now waits under cover in the valley, placing the desire that called him forth beside the violence he is preparing.

ALSO GROWS

sha'al: to ask, request

שָׁאַל

The verb makes the root of Saul’s name visible: he is the one asked for.

she'elah: a request, petition

שְׁאֵלָה

This noun shows that Saul’s name belongs to the language of asking and desire.

THE PATTERN

Violence can be present before the blow, already taking shape through concealment and positioning.

And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.

1 Samuel 15:5 · KJVSaul’s position in the valley makes concealment part of the attack before it begins.

He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.

Psalm 10:8 · KJVThe hidden place is already a place of intended violence, even before the attack becomes visible.

But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee.

Acts 23:21 · KJVThe men’s concealed position and prepared vow make the coming violence present before they strike.

THE THREAD

And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.

1 Samuel 8:10 · KJV

The word translated “asked” shares the root ⁨שאל⁩ with Saul’s name: he is the asked-for king. That link lets this valley scene carry the weight of what was desired, alongside the violence now being prepared.

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