What Does 1 Samuel 7:8 Mean in the King James?
And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.
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
Deliverance is being brought out of the hand that holds you, so the grip around you does not get the final word.
THE MEANING
The need is not hidden or carried alone: another person is asked to bring it before the LORD with you. What has a grip on you may be real, but it is not ultimate; deliverance means being brought out from under it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that whatever holds you now has the final claim over you.
THE ROOT
יֹשִׁיעֵנוּ
yoshi'enu
GROWS FROM
ישע
yasha
Deliver; bring out of constriction into spaciousness.
“save” in this verse is yoshi'enu. The root opens deliverance as being brought out of constriction into space. Here that movement is concrete: the people ask to be brought out of the Philistines’ hand, the grip confining them.
ALSO GROWS
yeshaʿ: Deliverance
יֵשַׁע
The noun makes clear that deliverance is the way out itself, not merely a change in how the pressure feels.
yeshuʿah: Deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This branch carries the same movement from a constricted place into freedom.
מִזְּעֹק
mizzeʿoq
GROWS FROM
זעק
za'aq
Cry out; voice an appeal from distress.
English can make “cry” sound like a passing emotion; this root names a voiced appeal for help. The people ask that the appeal continue, and the next verse shows Samuel voicing it for them.
ALSO GROWS
zeʿaqah: Outcry
זְעָקָה
The noun gives the cry a form that can be heard and answered.
zoʿeq: One who cries out
זֹעֵק
This form keeps the person making the appeal visible within the act of crying.
THE PATTERN
A cry from beneath another power can be carried to the LORD, whose deliverance brings the caller out from under that grip.
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.THE THREAD
And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him.The same Hebrew root, זעק (za’aq, cry out), appears in the request and in Samuel’s response, linking their plea to his action. The verse then says the LORD hears him: the cry they ask not to cease becomes the passage’s immediate line into being heard.
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