What Does 1 Samuel 7:17 Mean in the King James?
And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar 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
Return is the hinge: the place that holds Samuel’s home also holds Israel’s judgment and the altar.
THE MEANING
This verse shows a life in which the place of return also becomes the place of discernment and devotion. Samuel’s home, his responsibility toward Israel, and his altar converge at Ramah, held together in one center.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that home, public responsibility, and worship must occupy separate compartments.
THE ROOT
וּתְשֻׁבָתוֹ
u-teshuvato
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
turn, return
The root carries more than travel back to a place: it holds the sense of turning back. Samuel’s return locates his judgment and altar at the place that holds his life, making return a re-centering.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: to turn or return
שׁוּב
The verb beneath “return” makes the movement a turning back, not merely arrival.
teshuvah: return, turning
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun from the same root shows how return can name a whole reorientation.
שָׁפַט
shaphat
GROWS FROM
שָׁפַט
shaphat
judge, govern, order
The root also gives מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), judgment or justice, and שֹׁפֵט (shofet), a judge. Here “judged” carries the ordering of a people, and that work shares a place with Samuel’s home and altar.
ALSO GROWS
mishpat: judgment, justice
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch connects Samuel’s judging with the ordering and justice that shape communal life.
shofet: judge
שֹׁפֵט
This branch names the one who carries out the work described in the verse.
מִזְבֵּחַ
mizbeach
GROWS FROM
זָבַח
zavach
sacrifice, slaughter for offering
The altar’s root ties the place to the act of offering. English can make “altar” sound like a static object, while its word-family keeps the offering itself in view.
ALSO GROWS
zevach: sacrifice, offering
זֶבַח
This branch names what is brought to the altar, joining the place to the act of offering.
zoveach: one who sacrifices
זֹבֵחַ
This branch names the person performing the act associated with the altar.
THE PATTERN
A shared center can hold dwelling, communal responsibility, and devotion together.
Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,THE THREAD
O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.The same Hebrew root שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “turn” or “return,” links Samuel’s return to Ramah with the call to return to the LORD. Here return turns from a place to a relationship: the movement back is also a turning toward God.
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