What Does 1 Samuel 2:25 Mean in the King James?
If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay 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
The Hebrew repeats one root for both “judge” and “intreat,” making the unanswered question of who can intervene the hinge between judgment and death.
THE MEANING
You meet a hard distinction: harm between people can be brought to judgment, while an offense against the LORD raises the question of who can intercede. A father’s voice goes unheard, and the verse states plainly that the LORD wills the sons’ death. Here, no advocate or reprieve is named.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that a human advocate can always secure reprieve is undone here: the question of who can intercede remains unanswered, and death is named as the outcome.
THE ROOT
וּפִלְלוֹ
u-fillelo
GROWS FROM
פלל
Intervene or arbitrate; the root can describe judging or interceding.
“judge / intreat” in this verse is u-fillelo. English gives “judge” and “intreat” different words, but Hebrew repeats פלל in both clauses. The question turns on who can intervene when the offense is against the LORD; it remains unanswered beside the stated sentence of death.
ALSO GROWS
u-fillelo: And [God] will judge or arbitrate him
וּפִלְלוֹ
This is the root’s first appearance, describing judgment of an offense between people.
yitpallel: Intercede, plead, or pray for him
יִתְפַּלֵּל
The same root returns in the question, joining judgment and intercession as forms of intervention.
tefillah: Prayer
תְּפִלָּה
This related noun keeps prayer within the same family of appeal and intervention.
לֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ
lo yishme'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, heed, and respond.
The verse’s “hearkened not” carries more than sound reaching the ear: it names a refusal to respond to the father’s voice. That same root can describe hearing that receives and answers what is heard.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This familiar form makes the root’s responsive sense clear: hearing can include answering what is heard.
shemu'ah: Report or message, something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
The word family includes both hearing and what is received by hearing, sharpening the sons’ refusal as rejection of a voice.
יֶחֱטָא
yecheta
GROWS FROM
חטא
Miss, err, or fail.
The root presents the act as a missing or failure, while the verse makes its direction matter: the offense is against another person or against the LORD. English “sin” can conceal that shared root sense.
ALSO GROWS
chet: Missing or offense
חֵטְא
The noun keeps the act tied to the root’s sense of missing.
chatta't: Offense; in ritual use, an offering for the missing
חַטָּאת
The related word carries the same root into the ritual response to a missing.
THE PATTERN
When a corrective voice is refused, scripture places that refusal beside consequences it does not soften.
He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.THE THREAD
And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.The same root שמע (shama, hear and respond) appears here, now with the LORD as the one who hears Hezekiah; the verse joins that hearing to healing. Beside the sons who do not hear their father, the shared root makes a sharp counterpoint between refusal and a plea that is heard.
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