What Does 1 Samuel 3:11 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
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 calls God’s act a davar, a word and a thing, and says it will ring through every ear, making the announcement itself bodily.
THE MEANING
The action remains unnamed in this line; its reach does not. The LORD’s announced act enters the reader’s hearing with enough force to make the ears ring, and no one who hears it remains untouched. What is called a “thing” is already a word becoming an event.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A word from God is only information that can be heard without consequence; this verse presents hearing as something that reaches the body.
THE ROOT
תְּצִלֶּנָה
tetzillena
GROWS FROM
צלל
To ring, quiver, or tingle.
The verb for the ears’ response belongs to the sound-family of the ringing cymbal. “Tingle” is more than a slight shiver: the announcement resounds in the listener, like sound striking the ears.
ALSO GROWS
tsiltsal: Cymbal; a ringing instrument.
צִלְצֵל
This related word gives the ears’ “tingling” the quality of a sound that rings out.
tetzillena: They will ring or tingle, as in 2 Kings 21:12 and Jeremiah 19:3.
תְּצִלֶּנָה
The same verb recurs in warnings whose force is heard as a ringing in the ears.
דָּבָר
davar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak or utter; davar can mean a word, matter, or thing.
The noun translated “thing” is davar, which also means “word.” Hebrew lets the announced word and the happening it names occupy the same expression, so the speech already carries the event within it.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: To speak or utter.
דִּבֵּר
The coming “thing” is framed by the same root that names speaking.
devarim: Words or matters.
דְּבָרִים
This branch preserves the root’s range: what is spoken can also be the matter or event being spoken of.
שֹׁמְעוֹ
shom'o
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
“heareth” in this verse is shom'o. The Hebrew word for hearing can carry the sense of listening and heeding, not merely sound reaching the ear. Here, the reception of the announcement becomes a felt ringing in every hearer.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar form shows that hearing in Hebrew can include a response, not just passive reception.
shemu'ah: A report or news, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The root can name both the act of hearing and the report that reaches the hearer.
THE PATTERN
A word that announces a weighty act does not remain information; its force is felt by those who hear it.
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?THE THREAD
And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.Jeremiah uses the same rare verb for ears that ring or tingle. The shared root links the word of the LORD with a sound that lands in the listener’s body.
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