What Does 1 Samuel 7:5 Mean in the King James?
And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you 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
Mizpeh means “lookout,” so all Israel gathers at a place whose name carries watchfulness as Samuel intercedes for them.
THE MEANING
Your need can be carried before the LORD by someone praying on your behalf; Samuel says he will do this for the gathered people. Their meeting takes place at Mizpeh, a name rooted in watching, bringing watchfulness and intercession into the same scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Your need reaches God only when you can carry it yourself. Samuel’s promise to pray “for you” places the gathered people inside another’s intercession.
THE ROOT
מִצְפָּה
Miṣpāh
GROWS FROM
צפה
To watch, look out, or keep watch.
Mizpeh is more than a location label: its name comes from a root meaning to watch or look out. Israel gathers at a place whose name holds the image of a lookout while Samuel takes their case before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
tsopheh: Watcher, lookout, or watchman.
צֹפֶה
This is the same root used for the watchman in Ezekiel 3:17, linking Mizpeh’s name to a person who watches over Israel.
mitspeh: Lookout or watchtower.
מִצְפֶּה
The place-name preserves the root’s image of watching, giving the gathering a setting shaped by watchfulness.
אֶתְפַּלֵּל
ʾetpallēl
GROWS FROM
פלל
To intervene or intercede; related forms also carry judicial or arbitrating meanings.
“pray” in this verse is ʾetpallēl. The Hebrew verb here belongs to a word family that includes both prayer and judging or arbitration. Samuel’s prayer has the shape of intervening on behalf of the people, as the phrase “for you” makes explicit.
ALSO GROWS
tefillah: Prayer or supplication.
תְּפִלָּה
The prayer noun grows from the same word family, tying Samuel’s action to intercession.
pelilim: Judges or arbitrators.
פְּלִילִים
This related form names people who intervene in a dispute, echoing the intercessory shape of Samuel’s prayer.
THE PATTERN
A representative can carry the need of many before God through intercession.
And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.THE THREAD
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.Mizpeh comes from צפה (tsaphah), “to watch” or “look out,” the root behind “watchman” here. The name of Israel’s gathering place carries the same watchful language Ezekiel gives to the one set over the house of Israel.
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