What Does 1 Samuel 18:24 Mean in the King James?
And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spake David.
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 root behind both “words” and “spake” is one seed, joining David’s speech with the words his servants carry to Saul.
THE MEANING
Your words can keep moving after you leave the room: another person carries them onward, and someone else receives them. Here, Saul’s servants tell him what David says, so David’s speech reaches Saul through their telling.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that words vanish once spoken: they can remain present through the people who carry them onward.
THE ROOT
דְּבָרִים
devarim
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; its noun form can mean a word, matter, or affair.
“words / spake” in this verse is devarim. Hebrew uses forms of one root for both the reported “words” and David’s act of speaking. The root can also name a matter, so what is spoken is joined to the substance being carried into Saul’s hearing.
ALSO GROWS
devarim: Words, sayings, or matters
דְּבָרִים
This is the word the servants use to refer to what David said; it shares its root with the verb for speaking.
dibber: He spoke
דִּבֶּר
This is the verb describing David’s speech, from the same root as the reported words.
THE PATTERN
Words cross the boundary of a speaker’s presence when listeners carry them onward.
Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things.And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;THE THREAD
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.The Hebrew דְּבַר (devar, “word”) in Genesis 15:1 comes from the same ד־ב־ר (d-b-r, “speak/word”) root that joins “words” and “spake” here. There, the word comes speaking; here, David’s spoken words travel from one person to another.
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