What Does 1 Samuel 24:13 Mean in the King James?
As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
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 uses the same root for “the wicked” and “wickedness,” tracing harm to its source while leaving your own hand free to choose what comes next.
THE MEANING
What comes from a person bears the character of its source. Yet another person’s wickedness does not make your response inevitable: your hand can remain off them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being harmed makes retaliation inevitable, or proves that your hand must answer with the same harm.
THE ROOT
רֶשַׁע
rešaʿ
GROWS FROM
רשע
r-sh-ʿ
To be guilty or act wickedly; the root names both the wicked person and the wickedness that comes from them.
The Hebrew says, “from the wicked ones goes out wickedness”: מֵרְשָׁעִים יֵצֵא רֶשַׁע. The source and its outflow share one root, while the withheld hand marks a choice not to continue that outflow.
ALSO GROWS
rəšāʿîm: Wicked ones
רְשָׁעִים
This is the source named in the proverb; it shares its root with “wickedness.”
rāšaʿ: To act wickedly or be guilty
רָשַׁע
The same root describes wickedness as conduct, linking the person named in the proverb with what proceeds from them.
THE PATTERN
What flows from a source discloses its character, while the next act need not repeat the harm already present.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?THE THREAD
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.“Ungodly” here translates רְשָׁעִים (rəšāʿîm), from the same root as “wickedness” in the proverb. Psalm 1 shows that source extending into counsel and way: what proceeds from the wicked also shapes the paths around them.
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