What Does 1 Samuel 30:1 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
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 shock is that violence reaches beyond the border and turns the place of return itself into its evidence.
THE MEANING
A home, town, or place of return can become the site of attack, and the damage can be physical and visible. This passage keeps the violence concrete: David and his men arrive to find Ziklag struck and burned. It speaks now to the vulnerability of the shelter and ground on which a life depends.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a familiar home is untouchable simply because it is a place of return.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׂרְפוּ
wayyiśrĕp̄û
GROWS FROM
שרף
śāraph
To burn or consume by fire.
“burned” in this verse is wayyiśrĕp̄û. The root connects this act to other words for burning, making the fire part of the verse’s meaning rather than a detail that disappears inside the general idea of destruction. Ziklag is not merely lost; the text shows its ruin through consuming fire.
ALSO GROWS
śĕrēp̄āh: Burning; conflagration.
שְׂרֵפָה
The noun names the burning itself, echoing the physical form of Ziklag’s destruction.
śārāph: Seraph; a burning serpent.
שָׂרָף
This related word carries the same root’s image of burning, revealing how the root extends beyond this single act of fire.
וַיַּכּוּ
wayyakkû
GROWS FROM
נכה
nākâ
To strike or smite.
“smitten” in this verse is wayyakkû. The root names a blow before the verse names the fire, keeping the attack in two distinct stages. Its related forms carry the idea of a strike into words for both an impact and one who strikes.
ALSO GROWS
makkāh: Blow, stroke, or plague.
מַכָּה
This branch names the impact of being struck; Ziklag receives that blow before it is burned.
makkēh: One who strikes; a striker.
מַכֶּה
The word keeps the act of striking present in the root, giving weight to the verse’s description of the attack.
THE PATTERN
Violence becomes visible in the destruction of the places that shelter a people.
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.THE THREAD
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.Isaiah uses the same Hebrew root שרף (śāraph, burn) for cities consumed by fire. The repeated root expands the image from Ziklag’s ruin to the devastation of an inhabited landscape.
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