What Does 1 Samuel 20:38 Mean in the King James?
And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
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
Urgency is built from three different Hebrew verbs: a call is sent out, the hurry is renewed, and standing still is ruled out.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you as a voice reaching after you: hurry, hasten, do not stand still. Its commands make urgency immediate, leaving no still interval between hearing the call and moving.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that pausing is neutral: in this moment, remaining in place is exactly what the voice forbids.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקְרָא
wayyiqrāʾ
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
Call, summon, proclaim.
“cried” in this verse is wayyiqrāʾ. The shout is an act of calling across distance, not just an expression of emotion. This root also gives words for a caller and a convocation, revealing the cry as a directed summons.
ALSO GROWS
qōrēʾ: One who calls; a reader.
קֹרֵא
The same root can send a call toward a hearer or voice words aloud for others to receive.
miqrāʾ: Convocation; public reading.
מִקְרָא
A call can gather attention into a shared moment, as Jonathan’s cry gathers the lad’s attention.
חוּשָׁה
ḥûšāh
GROWS FROM
חוש
ḥ-w-š
Hurry, hasten.
The second push is a distinct Hebrew verb of hurrying, renewing the urgency of “Make speed.” The root carries haste as directed movement, not merely a feeling of impatience.
ALSO GROWS
ḥaštî: I made haste.
חַשְׁתִּי
Psalm 119:60 uses the same root alongside “delayed not,” joining haste to the absence of delay.
ʾaḥîšennāh: I will hasten it.
אָחִישֶׁנָּה
In Isaiah 60:22 the root describes bringing something forward quickly, giving haste a direction toward an outcome.
תַּעֲמֹד
taʿămōd
GROWS FROM
עמד
ʿ-m-d
Stand, take one’s position, remain.
The verb pictures standing in place, so “stay not” gives the urgency a concrete edge: do not remain where you are. The line moves from renewed haste to the cancellation of standing still.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōmēd: Standing; one who stands.
עֹמֵד
This form makes visible the posture the command rules out.
maʿămād: Standing place; position.
מַעֲמָד
The root can name a position one occupies, sharpening the command not to remain in place.
THE PATTERN
A summons reaches its full force when its hearer answers without delay and moves.
And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.THE THREAD
Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;The “call” and “cry” here come from קָרָא (qārāʾ, to call or summon), the same root rendered “cried” in Jonathan’s shout. That shared root makes his cry a summons aimed at the one moving ahead of him.
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