What Does 1 Samuel 30:31 Mean in the King James?

And to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.

1 Samuel 30:31 · KJV

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

Here, the path itself becomes a map of belonging: provision reaches the places David and his men have moved through.

THE MEANING

The verse places provision on a map: it reaches Hebron and every place David and his men go about. What is gathered in one place can flow along a lived path of connection, keeping particular communities within the circle of its reach.

THE ROOT

הִתְהַלֶּךְ

hithallēkh

GROWS FROM

הלך

h-l-k

go, walk, proceed

“were wont to haunt” in this verse is hithallēkh. The KJV’s “haunt” here means to go about repeatedly. The Hebrew root keeps the movement visible: the destinations are tied to the route David and his men actually travel.

ALSO GROWS

halakh: go, walk

הָלַךְ

This is the basic motion behind the verse’s description of the places David and his men go.

holekh: one who goes, a walker

הוֹלֵךְ

The route belongs to people in motion; the list follows where they have gone.

חֶבְרוֹן

Ḥevron

GROWS FROM

חבר

ḥ-b-r

join, associate, be connected

Hebron’s name is traditionally connected with the root meaning “join” or “associate.” Beside the other places on David’s route, the name evokes a geography of connection: a joined community and the wider network of places linked to his path.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāvar: join, associate

חָבַר

The root frames connection as something formed between people or groups.

ḥāver: companion, associate, friend

חָבֵר

This branch gives the root’s joining a personal shape, echoing the relationships carried along a route.

מְקֹמוֹת

meqomot

GROWS FROM

קום

q-w-m

rise, stand

“places” in this verse is meqomot. The Hebrew word for “place” is built from a root meaning “stand” or “rise.” The list points to particular ground where people stand and meet, rather than an abstract, faceless territory.

ALSO GROWS

qam: rose, stood

קָם

This is the basic standing or rising contained in the word for place.

heqim: raise, establish, set up

הֵקִים

The related form makes the sense of a place as established ground more visible.

THE PATTERN

Provision travels through relationships and reaches the people and places that form a lived path.

And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.

Ruth 2:18 · KJVRuth carries what she has gathered back into the city and shares it with someone bound to her by relationship.

But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:

2 Corinthians 8:14 · KJVAbundance moves between communities, meeting need through a continuing exchange.

And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

Acts 4:35 · KJVWhat is gathered in one place reaches each person according to need.

THE THREAD

And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.

2 Samuel 7:9 · KJV

“Wentest” carries the same Hebrew root, ⁨הלך⁩ (halakh), “to go,” as the movement in this verse. The route that appears here as a map of places is also named as a path accompanied at every turn.

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