What Does 1 Samuel 2:20 Mean in the King James?
And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home.
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 word translated “loan” shares its root with “ask,” keeping the child’s request and his being given to the LORD inside one word-family.
THE MEANING
Petition and answer remain joined: what is requested from the LORD is described with the same root as what is lent to the LORD, while Eli’s blessing asks for further seed. Receiving and entrusting stand together, and the verse ends with the family returning home.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It challenges the assumption that what is entrusted to the LORD can only leave absence; Eli’s blessing speaks of further seed in place of the request.
THE ROOT
הַשְּׁאֵלָה
ha-she’elah
GROWS FROM
שׁאל
sh-ʾ-l
ask, request
The Hebrew places the noun for “request” beside a verb from the same root: “the request which he asked of the LORD.” Beneath the KJV’s “loan which is lent,” the word-family keeps asking and entrusting connected.
ALSO GROWS
she’elah: request, petition
שְׁאֵלָה
This is the noun in the verse, linking the child’s being lent to the petition made to the LORD.
Sha’ul: asked for; Saul
שָׁאוּל
This form from the same root echoes the idea of a person as one asked for, resonating with a child received in answer to a request.
וַיְבָרֶךְ
vayvarekh
GROWS FROM
ברך
b-r-k
bless; the root also carries the image of bending the knee
“blessed” in this verse is vayvarekh. The blessing is more than a positive wish: barakh carries the bodily image of bending the knee. Eli’s words honor the parents and speak further life over them after their request has been entrusted to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: knee
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared root gives blessing a posture of bending, rather than leaving it as an abstract sentiment.
berakhah: blessing
בְּרָכָה
This noun names the blessing Eli speaks over Elkanah and his wife.
זֶרַע
zeraʿ
GROWS FROM
זרע
z-r-ʿ
seed; sow
The word holds offspring and seed together, while its root also gives the verb “to sow.” Eli’s blessing pictures further life as seed: something received with the potential to grow.
ALSO GROWS
zeraʿ: seed, offspring
זֶרַע
The verse uses this word for the further children Eli asks the LORD to give.
zaraʿ: sow, plant seed
זָרַע
The related verb opens the image of offspring into the act of sowing and future growth.
THE PATTERN
A request made to God can be met as a gift whose source remains visible.
For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.THE THREAD
Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.The English “lent” here and “loan” in this verse translate forms of שאל, the root of asking. Hannah’s requested child is also described through that word-family, holding petition and entrusting together.
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