What Does 1 Samuel 18:16 Mean in the King James?
But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
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
David’s name carries the sense “beloved,” and the verse shows that name answered by the people’s love as he moves among them.
THE MEANING
The verse places love in the rhythm of visible presence: David goes out and comes in before the people. He is not only a name or title; his life moves where they can see him. The bond is lived among them.
THE ROOT
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
Beloved; also a close male relative.
“David, the beloved” in this verse is Dāwīd. David’s name is linked with דּוֹד (dod), “beloved,” while the verse uses אָהַב (ahav), “love,” for the people’s response. These are different roots, but their meanings meet: the beloved name is answered by actual love.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved; also a close male relative.
דּוֹד
This branch carries the sense associated with David’s name.
dodim: Loves or endearments.
דּוֹדִים
This related form makes the root’s connection with affection audible in the verse’s picture of a people who love David.
יוֹצֵא
yotze
GROWS FROM
יצא
To go out, emerge, or come forth.
“went out” in this verse is yotze. The Hebrew presents David’s going out as part of a continuing rhythm, paired with his coming in. His movement is public and repeated, not a single appearance.
ALSO GROWS
motsa: An outgoing, source, or point of departure.
מוֹצָא
The branch keeps the sense of something issuing outward, like David’s visible movement among the people.
yetzi’ah: Departure or going out.
יְצִיאָה
This noun preserves the same outward motion named in the verse.
לִפְנֵיהֶם
lifnehem
GROWS FROM
פנה
To turn toward or face.
“Before them” carries the image of being in front of their faces. David’s coming and going happens in their presence, giving the verse’s love a setting of visible, shared life.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face or presence.
פָּנִים
The face is the image inside “before them”: the people are there to see David.
lifnei: Before or in front of.
לִפְנֵי
This form locates David’s movement in the people’s presence.
THE PATTERN
Going out and coming in marks a life present among the people, where trust can take shape.
Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.THE THREAD
Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.The paired movement returns in the people’s words to David: he is the one who led Israel out and brought them in. The same roots for going out and coming in connect public presence with carrying a people.
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