What Does 1 Samuel 6:17 Mean in the King James?
And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
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 Hebrew names the return as an asham, guilt and its reparation, so the golden likenesses make the affliction part of a counted account.
THE MEANING
The bodily affliction is represented in gold and returned to the LORD, with one share named for each of the five cities. The verse keeps the reckoning particular rather than letting the cities blur together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that accountability can be settled with a vague token: the offering is shaped to represent the affliction and counted city by city.
THE ROOT
אָשָׁם
ʾāshām
GROWS FROM
אשם
ʾ-š-m
Incur guilt; become liable.
“trespass offering” in this verse is ʾāshām. The word for the offering is itself אָשָׁם, which also names guilt or liability. The golden figures belong to a concrete reckoning for what has occurred, rather than an unmarked gift.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāshēm: To be guilty or liable.
אָשֵׁם
The same root names the condition that makes an asham offering fitting.
ʾăshāmāh: Guilt or liability.
אֲשָׁמָה
This branch keeps the offering connected to a specific account of what has happened.
הֵשִׁיבוּ
hēshîvû
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
Turn back; return.
The Hebrew verb carries the sense of turning something back toward its source. Here the golden likenesses are not merely given; they are returned as part of the reckoning.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
It makes the direction in the verse visible: what is sent back comes around again toward its source.
meshubah: Turning away; backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch shows that the root carries direction: a turn can return toward, or turn away from, its source.
THE PATTERN
When a wrong is brought into account, its repair takes a concrete and measurable form.
Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.THE THREAD
If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:The same Hebrew word אָשָׁם (asham), meaning guilt, liability, or a guilt offering, appears in both verses. Leviticus ties the offering to a particular liability and its measured value, opening the counted, city-by-city offering in 1 Samuel as a concrete reckoning.
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