What Does 1 Samuel 3:6 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
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 LORD’s repeated call reaches Samuel before he can tell whose voice it is.
THE MEANING
You can meet a call before you understand its source. Samuel rises at once, yet reads the familiar voice as Eli’s; the verse holds sincere responsiveness and mistaken attribution in the same moment. His name is tied in the story to Hannah’s asking of the LORD, so this repeated call meets a life already shaped by asking and answer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that sincere response guarantees accurate recognition: Samuel answers earnestly, yet has not identified the caller.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקְרָא
wayyiqrāʾ
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
To call or cry out; also to name, proclaim, and read aloud.
“called” in this verse is wayyiqrāʾ. The same root joins calling, naming, proclaiming, and reading aloud: a call does more than make a sound; it addresses someone. Samuel hears his name but assigns the voice to Eli, so the repeated call holds open the space between hearing a summons and recognizing its source.
ALSO GROWS
miqrāʾ: A convocation or public reading.
מִקְרָא
The call can gather people into shared hearing; it is more than a sound directed at one listener.
qōrēʾ: One who calls or reads aloud.
קֹרֵא
The same root names both the caller and the reader, joining spoken address with words voiced for another to hear.
THE PATTERN
A call can precede full recognition and return until the hearer answers its true source.
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.THE THREAD
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.The Hebrew verb behind Samuel’s call is קרא (qaraʾ, to call out), the same root rendered “cried” here. The movement runs both ways: in Samuel, the LORD calls and Samuel searches for the voice’s source; in the psalm, the afflicted person calls and the LORD hears.
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