What Does 1 Samuel 2:19 Mean in the King James?

Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

1 Samuel 2:19 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The same Hebrew root describes Hannah bringing Samuel his coat and going up to worship, joining her yearly offering with her care for him.

THE MEANING

Hannah makes Samuel a coat and brings it to him year after year. Her care is part of the family’s recurring journey to worship: the trip that brings her to the offering also brings something made for her son.

THE ROOT

וְהַעֲלְתָה

wəhaʿălətāh

GROWS FROM

ע־ל־ה

to go up, rise, or bring up

“brought it to him” in this verse is wəhaʿălətāh. The Hebrew uses forms of ⁨עלה⁩ both for Hannah bringing up Samuel’s coat and for her going up with her husband. English presents these as separate actions, while the shared root ties her care for Samuel to the family’s yearly ascent to worship.

ALSO GROWS

ʿōlāh: burnt offering; literally, that which rises or ascends

עֹלָה

The same root names an offering that ascends, alongside Hannah’s journey to offer sacrifice.

maʿăleh: ascent, step

מַעֲלֶה

This branch makes the root’s sense of upward movement explicit, echoing the repeated journey in the verse.

THE PATTERN

A garment can make care or belonging tangible on the body.

But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.

1 Samuel 2:18 · KJVSamuel’s garment accompanies him as a child serving before the LORD, while the next verse shows his mother bringing him another garment year by year.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

Genesis 37:3 · KJVJoseph’s coat is made visible alongside his father’s love for him.

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

Luke 15:22 · KJVThe father places a robe on his son as part of welcoming him home.

THE THREAD

And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there.

1 Samuel 1:3 · KJV

The Hebrew for “went up” in this verse comes from ⁨עלה⁩, the same root used when Hannah brings Samuel’s coat to him in 2:19. The yearly ascent is already the family’s rhythm of worship; Hannah’s return also carries something made for her son.

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