What Does 1 Samuel 9:1 Mean in the King James?
Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.
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 verse pairs the mighty person with the capacity he carries, making power a lived quality rather than a floating abstraction.
THE MEANING
Identity here is relational: the man is named through fathers and tribe, then described through the strength he carries. Benjamin (בִּנְיָמִין, Binyamin, “son of the right hand”) and the closing words place lineage and personal capacity in one portrait.
THE ROOT
גִּבּוֹר
gibbor
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
Be strong, prevail, or prove greater.
The root גבר (g-b-r, be strong or prevail) makes “mighty” a state of prevailing strength, while גִּבּוֹר (gibbor, mighty one) names the person who bears it. Its pairing with חַיִל (chayil, force, resources, or capacity) makes strength concrete; בִּנְיָמִין (Binyamin, son of the right hand) also locates this man within a relational identity.
ALSO GROWS
gavar: Be strong; prevail.
גָּבַר
This verb shows the root as strength in action, rather than only a title or status.
gibbor: A mighty one; a warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This is the form used in the verse, naming the person through the strength he embodies.
gevurah: Might; strength; a mighty deed.
גְּבוּרָה
This branch names the strength itself, linking the person called mighty to the capacity implied by “power.”
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats human might as a real capacity whose standing can shift.
The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.THE THREAD
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.Both verses use גִּבּוֹר (gibbor, mighty one) with חַיִל (chayil, force or capacity), rendered here as “mighty man of power” and there as “mighty man of valour.” The shared wording names strength as a quality of the person, not merely a display of dominance.
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