What Does 1 Samuel 18:11 Mean in the King James?
And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.
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 calls David’s escape a release, so Saul’s force does not get to define the only possible ending.
THE MEANING
The verse holds Saul’s violent intent plainly: he throws a spear to pin David against the wall. David slips beyond Saul’s reach, and the escape happens twice. The danger is real, and so is the opening out of its grasp.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that violent intent guarantees its own outcome: Saul intends to kill David, but David does not become the ending Saul intends.
THE ROOT
וַיִּפְטֹר
vayyiphtor
GROWS FROM
פטר
Release, let go, or open out; in this verse, escape.
“avoided” in this verse is vayyiphtor. The verb describes David getting free of Saul’s reach. The same root names both an opening into life and the letting out of water, holding release as both an exit and an opening that can unleash momentum.
ALSO GROWS
peter rechem: The one that first opens the womb.
פֶּטֶר רֶחֶם
The same root names an opening into life, adding the sense of emergence to David’s escape.
poter mayim: One who lets out water.
פֹּטֵר מַיִם
This branch shows release as an opening that can unleash a force, a different outcome from David getting clear of Saul.
דָּוִד
Dāwid
GROWS FROM
דוד
Beloved; cherished.
David’s name carries the seed of belovedness, standing beside Saul’s explicit intent to kill him. The name does not soften the violence; belovedness and danger occupy the same scene.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved; also an uncle in some contexts.
דּוֹד
This root gives the name David its sense of belovedness.
dodi: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
The possessive form makes the root’s intimacy explicit, deepening the contrast with Saul’s attempt to strike David.
פַּעֲמָיִם
pa'amayim
GROWS FROM
פעם
Step, beat, or occurrence.
“twice” in this verse is pa'amayim. English gives a count; Hebrew also carries the sense of a step or beat. David’s escape happens in two distinct moments, with Saul’s aim failing to hold him each time.
ALSO GROWS
pa'am: A time, occasion, step, or beat.
פַּעַם
The root makes “twice” feel like two separate beats of escape, not one blurred event.
pa'amon: A bell.
פַּעֲמוֹן
The bell belongs to the same consonantal family, carrying the sense of repeated striking or ringing.
THE PATTERN
A trap or weapon can threaten to close around someone without controlling whether they find an opening out.
And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.THE THREAD
The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.Proverbs uses פטר in “letteth out,” while Samuel uses the same root for David getting clear of Saul. One release starts a torrent of strife; the other opens a way out of an attack.
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