What Does 1 Samuel 4:6 Mean in the King James?

And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp.

1 Samuel 4:6 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The cry carries enough meaning that the Philistines hear more than noise: they recognize that the ark of the LORD has entered the camp.

THE MEANING

You hear a sound before you see what it announces; sometimes a cry carries the identity of an arrival. The verse moves from hearing to recognition: the Philistines hear the great shout and know the ark of the LORD has entered the camp.

THE ROOT

תְּרוּעָה

teru'ah

GROWS FROM

רוע

To raise a shout or cry aloud; the cry can serve as an alarm or an acclamation.

“shout” in this verse is teru'ah. The root opens “noise” into a signal: this is a recognizable cry, not just volume. Here, its sound lets the Philistines identify what has arrived in the camp.

ALSO GROWS

ruaʿ: To shout or raise a cry.

רוּעַ

This verb names the action behind the noun teru’ah: the sound is made publicly and can carry a message.

hari'u: Shout aloud in acclamation.

הָרִיעוּ

This form appears in calls to praise; the same root can carry acclamation as well as alarm, while the hearers here recognize the ark through the cry.

וַיֵּדְעוּ

wayyēdeʿû

GROWS FROM

ידע

To know, perceive, or recognize.

“understood” in this verse is wayyēdeʿû. The Hebrew says they “knew” or “perceived.” The sound moves them from hearing to recognition: they identify the ark’s arrival from the cry.

ALSO GROWS

da'at: Knowledge or understanding.

דַּעַת

This noun makes the root’s knowing sense visible in the shift from an unfamiliar sound to recognized meaning.

hodi'a: To make known or inform.

הוֹדִיעַ

The causative form shows knowledge being conveyed; here, the shout gives the hearers a sign from which they recognize the ark.

THE PATTERN

An audible sign can announce an arrival and make its significance recognizable before it is seen.

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

Exodus 19:16 · KJVThe loud trumpet voice reaches the camp as the LORD comes down upon the mount.

It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;

2 Chronicles 5:13 · KJVThe unified sound of praise accompanies the house being filled with the cloud of the LORD’s presence.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1 Thessalonians 4:16 · KJVA shout, a voice, and a trumpet accompany the Lord’s descent.

THE THREAD

God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

Psalm 47:5 · KJV

Psalm 47:5 uses the same Hebrew word, ⁨תְּרוּעָה⁩ (teru’ah, a shout or acclamation). There, a teru’ah accompanies God’s ascent; here, the Philistines hear it and recognize the ark’s arrival.

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