What Does 1 Samuel 3:17 Mean in the King James?
And he said, What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto 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 thing” and “what he spoke,” binding the spoken word to the matter Eli demands be brought into the open.
THE MEANING
A hard word is demanded in full, and the demand itself carries force: “hide it not” is backed by a curse. The urgency to know what has been spoken sits beside the pressure placed on the one asked to disclose it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie it breaks is that a demand for truth must be gentle or harmless; here, the demand is backed by a curse.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dābār
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; from this root comes דָּבָר (dābār), meaning “word,” “matter,” or “thing.”
“thing / said” in this verse is dābār. English makes “thing” and “said” look like separate ideas, but both carry the same root here. The spoken word is itself the matter Eli demands to have disclosed.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
This is the “thing” Eli asks about: the content of what the LORD spoke.
dibber: He spoke
דִּבֶּר
This verb shares its root with “thing,” joining the spoken word to the matter being demanded.
THE PATTERN
A word entrusted to a hearer is brought into the open, even when it carries weight.
And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.THE THREAD
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.Psalm 40:10 brings the same two roots together: דִּבַּרְתִּי (dibbarti, “I declared”) comes from ד־ב־ר (d-b-r, speaking), and כִּחַדְתִּי (kiḥadti, “I concealed”) from כ־ח־ד (k-ḥ-d, concealment). The word spoken is made public rather than held back.
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