What Does 1 Samuel 25:12 Mean in the King James?
So David’s young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
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
“Went again” carries the Hebrew return-root שׁוּב (shuv, to turn back or return): the men come back carrying the words of the encounter with them.
THE MEANING
An encounter does not become weightless when it ends: its words can travel with the one who returns. Here, the men arrive carrying the whole report, and what was spoken becomes present again in another place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The conversation is over once the speakers part.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ
wayyashuvu
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
To turn back, return.
The Hebrew שׁוּב (shuv, return) gives “went again” the shape of a return, not merely another movement. The men come back with the report, so what was said travels with them.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Return, turn back.
שׁוּב
The verb in this verse names the men’s return to David.
heshiv: Bring back, restore, cause to return.
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form shows how the same root can describe something being brought back, not only a person returning.
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun preserves the root’s sense of a movement that turns back toward its point of origin.
הַדְּבָרִים
haddevarim
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; דָּבָר (davar) means a word or matter.
“sayings” in this verse is haddevarim. The men bring back דְּבָרִים (devarim, words). The Hebrew word דָּבָר (davar, word or matter) keeps the spoken report close to the matter it describes: the words carry the encounter forward.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, thing.
דָּבָר
The plural in this verse is built from this word for what is spoken and what is at issue.
dibber: Speak, utter.
דִּבֵּר
This verb names the speaking that produces the words the men now report.
THE PATTERN
A return can carry the words of an encounter from one person or place to another.
And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.THE THREAD
Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.The word translated “hath requited” comes from שׁוּב (shuv, to return): here, evil comes back in response to good. In verse 12, the men return with words; here, David names a return of action.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us