What Does 1 Samuel 3:10 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
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 repeated name is met by a hearing that is already an answer: here, listening means responsive availability.
THE MEANING
The LORD comes near, stands, and calls Samuel by name twice; the answer makes room for the voice to speak. The verse speaks now through this moment of address, where hearing is a present relation and readiness to respond. The repeated name makes the encounter personal before any instruction is given.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that hearing is merely sound reaching the ear: Samuel’s answer shows it as attention already turned toward response.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמֵעַ
shomeaʿ
GROWS FROM
שׁמע
Hear, listen, heed.
English “heareth” can sound like sound simply entering the ear, while שׁמע (shamaʿ, hear, listen, respond) carries the sense of attentive heeding. Samuel’s answer performs that hearing: his attention is already turned toward the voice. The root holds reception and response together.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear; listen; heed (imperative).
שְׁמַע
This root’s imperative opens “Hear, O Israel”; here, the call to hear becomes Samuel’s direct answer to a personal address.
shemuʿah: A report or tidings; what is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The same root can name what is received as well as the act of hearing it, linking the LORD’s call with Samuel’s reception of the message.
THE PATTERN
Biblical hearing is a response that carries the received word into action.
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.The Hebrew root behind “heareth” here returns in “hearken” and “obeying” there, binding hearing to responsive action. Samuel’s first answer is already a whole posture of listening, not merely a cue for the next words.
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