What Does 1 Samuel 6:15 Mean in the King James?
And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.
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 “joined ones” set the ark down while the offering’s Hebrew name means “ascent”: this verse holds descent and a rising response together.
THE MEANING
This scene holds descent and ascent together: the ark is carried down to the great stone, while the offering rises toward the LORD. The place is Beth-shemesh (בֵּית־שֶׁמֶשׁ, Bēt-šemeš, “house of the sun”), and the stone אֶבֶן (ʾeven, stone) carries the word-picture אָב (ʾav, father) + בֵּן (bēn, son), father and son held together beneath what rises.
THE ROOT
לְוִיִּם
ləwiyyim
GROWS FROM
לוה
The root לָוָה (lāwāh) means to join, attach, or accompany.
Leah’s explanation of Levi’s name uses the same joining sense that stands behind “Levites” here. The verse makes that name-nature concrete: the joined ones handle and carry the ark down.
ALSO GROWS
Lēwî: Joined, attached.
לֵוִי
The group name preserves the sense of joining carried by the root.
yillāweh: Will be joined or attached.
יִלָּוֶה
This is the joining language Leah uses when she names Levi in Genesis 29:34.
עֹלוֹת
ʿōlōt
GROWS FROM
עלה
The root עָלָה (ʿālāh) means to go up, ascend.
“burnt offerings” in this verse is ʿōlōt. The Hebrew name of the burnt offering holds its movement: it is an ascent. Beside the ark’s descent, this root lets the verse’s paired directions come into view.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōlāh: Burnt offering; an offering that rises.
עֹלָה
This is the singular form of the offering named in the verse, with ascent held inside its Hebrew name.
ʿaliyyāh: Ascent; an upper chamber.
עֲלִיָּה
The same root names a movement upward and a place above.
הוֹרִידוּ
hōrîdû
GROWS FROM
ירד
The root יָרַד (yārad) means to descend or go down.
“took down” in this verse is hōrîdû. The Hebrew names the ark’s downward movement with a form of “descend.” Beside the offering’s ascent, the verse places a brought-down ark and a rising response in one frame.
ALSO GROWS
yārad: To descend or go down.
יָרַד
This is the verb underlying the Levites’ action toward the stone.
yerīdāh: Descent; downward movement.
יְרִידָה
The noun makes the direction of the ark’s movement explicit.
THE PATTERN
What is received and set before God becomes an offering that rises.
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.Levi’s name is linked to לָוָה (lāwāh, “join, attach”) through Leah’s phrase “joined unto me,” and the same root underlies “Levites.” Here the joined ones carry the ark down, making the name’s joining sense an action within the scene.
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