What Does 1 Samuel 9:14 Mean in the King James?
And they went up into the city: and when they were come into the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place.
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
As they go up toward the high place, Samuel comes out to meet them, the route itself becomes the meeting place.
THE MEANING
You can be moving toward what you seek while an encounter is already coming toward you. The ascent and the meeting share the same path.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that an encounter must wait until you reach the destination: Samuel comes toward them before they go up to the high place.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעֲלוּ
wayyaʿălû
GROWS FROM
עלה
Rise, ascend, go up.
“went up” in this verse is wayyaʿălû. The verse uses this same root again in “to go up,” linking their arrival in the city with their intended ascent to the high place. English gives the actions separate phrases, while Hebrew repeats one movement, and Samuel comes out toward them within it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōlāh: Burnt offering; literally, something that rises.
עֹלָה
The same root connects ascent with what rises toward God, giving the upward movement a sense beyond simply changing location.
maʿălāh: Ascent, step, or degree.
מַעֲלָה
This branch names the upward path itself, echoing the verse’s repeated movement toward the high place.
THE PATTERN
Movement toward a sacred height becomes a place of encounter.
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.THE THREAD
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?“Ascend” uses the same root, עלה (ʿalah, rise or go up), that appears twice in this verse. Psalm 24 lets the ascent toward a hill open into a deeper question: who can stand in the holy place?
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