What Does 1 Samuel 26:17 Mean in the King James?
And Saul knew David’s voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.
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 “knew” shares its root with “stranger”: recognition is the act of distinguishing the familiar.
THE MEANING
A voice can carry a person’s identity across a moment of distance. Saul calls David “my son,” while David answers “my lord, O king”; kinship and hierarchy remain audible together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Recognition does not by itself erase distance: being called “son” still sits beside David’s address, “my lord, O king.”
THE ROOT
וַיַּכֵּר
wayyakkēr
GROWS FROM
נכר
n-k-r
To recognize or distinguish; related forms also describe what is foreign or unfamiliar.
“knew” in this verse is wayyakkēr. The verb wayyakkēr comes from נכר, which also forms words for a stranger or foreigner. Recognition here is an act of distinction: Saul hears David’s voice as a particular familiar voice, not merely an unknown sound.
ALSO GROWS
nokrî: Stranger, foreigner
נָכְרִי
The same root family names the unfamiliar and the act of recognizing; Saul distinguishes David from an unknown voice.
nēkār: Foreignness, foreign land
נֵכָר
This branch underscores the root’s contrast between what is unfamiliar and what can be recognized.
THE PATTERN
A voice can make a person recognizable, even when other signs or relationships complicate what the hearer knows.
And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.THE THREAD
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.John describes recognition through voice as the way the sheep know who leads them. That same structure opens Saul’s words: David’s voice identifies the person Saul calls “my son.”
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