1 Samuel2:27–36

Where the English smooths the original

• הֲנִגְלֹ֤ה נִגְלֵ֙יתִי֙ הֲנִגְלֹה נִגְלֵיתִי (hă·niḡ·lōh niḡ·lê·ṯî, H1540 gâlâh) is an infinitive absolute stacked on a Niphal perfect — “revealing, I revealed Myself.” BSB’s “clearly reveal Myself” carries the emphasis but loses the doubled verb, and loses that the stem is Niphal: not “I showed them something” but “I let Myself be uncovered.” The root means to denude, strip bare. Cambridge: “Better, Did I indeed reveal myself.”
• הֲ־ The interrogative הֲ prefixed to the infinitive absolute opens a question that wants no answer. Ellicott: the interrogations “do not ask a question with a view to a reply, but simply emphatically appeal to Eli’s conscience.” BSB’s inserted “not” (“Did I not”) is an English idiom for that force; the Hebrew simply asks.
• לְבֵ֥ית פַּרְעֹֽה לְבֵית פַּרְעֹה — “to/belonging-to the house of Pharaoh.” BSB reads “under Pharaoh’s house”; Cambridge renders “In bondage to Pharaoh’s house.” Poole leaves the ambiguity open: either Pharaoh’s land, the whole kingdom being one great household, or literally Pharaoh’s court. The Hebrew preposition l- will bear all three; the English must pick one.
• אִישׁ־אֱלֹהִ֖ים אִישׁ־אֱלֹהִים (’îš ’ĕlōhîm) is a bare construct chain, “man-of-God,” a title and not a description. BSB’s “a man of God” is right, but in English it reads as vagueness where the Hebrew reads as office. Pulpit: it “is the usual appellation of a prophet in the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings.”

Where the English smooths the original

• וּבָחֹ֣ר וּבָחֹר (ū·ḇā·ḥōr, H977 bâchar) is an infinitive absolute, not a finite verb. K&D: “The interrogative particle is not to be repeated before וּבחור, but the construction becomes affirmative with the inf. abs. instead of the perfect.” BSB’s finite “I selected” is a legitimate rendering of a form that is grammatically a bare, timeless “choosing.”
• לַעֲל֣וֹת לַעֲלוֹת (la·‘ă·lō·wṯ, H5927 ʻâlâh) means simply to go up, ascend. BSB reads “to offer sacrifices”; Cambridge allows both — “or perhaps, ‘to go up to mine altar,’ to minister at it.” K&D translates it flatly, “to ascend upon mine altar.” The English supplies the sacrifice; the Hebrew supplies only the step up.
• אִשֵּׁ֖י אִשֵּׁי (’iš·šê, H801 ʼishshâh) is built on ʼêsh, fire. Pulpit: “These portions are termed literally firings, or fire sacrifices.” BSB’s “food offerings” names what the priest got; the Hebrew names what the altar did. The irony is exact — the portion belonging to the flame is the portion Eli’s sons seized raw (vv. 15–16).
• לְפָנָ֑י לְפָנָי (lə·p̄ā·nāy, H6440 pânîym) is literally “to My faces.” BSB’s “in My presence” is smooth and correct in sense, but the same word returns in v. 30 and v. 35 as the verb of priestly service (“walk before My face”), and the English rendering hides that these are one idea.

Where the English smooths the original

• תִבְעֲט֗וּ תִבְעֲטוּ (ṯiḇ·‘ă·ṭū, H1163 bâʻaṭ) — “trample down, kick.” Cambridge: “Better, Wherefore do ye trample upon, i.e. treat with contempt.” Note the form is second person masculine plural — Eli is folded in with his sons before the singular verb of the next clause singles him out. BSB’s “do you kick” hides that change of number, which is the verse’s whole legal architecture.
• מָע֑וֹן מָעוֹן (mā·‘ō·wn, H4583) stands with no preposition at all. K&D: “מעון is an accusative (‘in the dwelling’), like בּית, in the house.” BSB supplies “for My dwelling place”; Cambridge warns plainly that “The Heb. is obscure,” and that the Septuagint diverges. This is one of the genuinely hard clauses in Samuel, and the English smoothness is editorial.
• וַתְּכַבֵּ֤ד וַתְּכַבֵּד (wat·tə·ḵab·bêḏ, H3513 kâbad, Piel) is literally “thou madest heavy.” BSB’s “you have honored” is right in sense but drops the physical metaphor of weight — which is precisely what v. 30 turns on when the despisers are “made light.”
• לְהַבְרִֽיאֲכֶ֗ם לְהַבְרִיאֲכֶם (lə·haḇ·rî·’ă·ḵem) is the Hiphil of H1254 bârâʼ — the lexicon’s gloss for the root is “(absolutely) to create.” In this stem it means to make fat. BSB’s “by fattening yourselves” is accurate; what English cannot show is that the consonants under it are the consonants of Genesis 1:1, now bent to the service of a priest’s waistline.

Where the English smooths the original

• נְאֻם־ נְאֻם (nə·’um, H5002) is a noun, not a verb: “utterance, oracle of.” Cambridge: “The Heb. word is one rarely used except of a solemn divine utterance, as in Genesis 22:16, and very commonly in the prophets.” BSB’s “declares” verbalises it. It stands twice in this one verse, bracketing the reversal.
• אָמ֣וֹר אָמַ֔רְתִּי אָמוֹר אָמַרְתִּי — infinitive absolute plus perfect, “saying, I said.” It is the identical construction to hă·niḡ·lōh niḡ·lê·ṯî in v. 27. BSB renders the first “clearly reveal” and the second “did indeed say,” which is faithful to sense but silently breaks the deliberate rhyme between God’s self-disclosure and God’s promise.
• יִתְהַלְּכ֥וּ יִתְהַלְּכוּ (yiṯ·hal·lə·ḵū, H1980, Hitpael) is reflexive-iterative: “walk themselves about, go to and fro.” BSB’s plain “would walk” loses the habitual force. K&D insists the phrase is not general piety (as in Genesis 17:1) but “the service of the priests at the sanctuary as walking before the face of God.”
• יֵקָֽלּוּ יֵקָלּוּ (yê·qāl·lū, H7043 qâlal) means “be light, be slight.” It is the exact antonym of kâbad, “be heavy,” used three times in the same sentence. BSB’s “will be disdained” is accurate but conceals that the verse is a single weights-and-measures pun: honour is weight, contempt is lightness.

Where the English smooths the original

• וְגָֽדַעְתִּי֙ וְגָדַעְתִּי (wə·ḡā·ḏa‘·tî, H1438 gâdaʻ) is not the general verb for cutting off (that is kârath, which arrives in v. 33). Strong’s glosses it “to fell a tree.” BSB’s “I will cut off” flattens a specific image of an axe laid to a trunk — the house is timber, and the stroke is at the base.
• זְרֹ֣עֲךָ֔ זְרֹעֲךָ (zə·rō·‘ă·ḵā, H2220 zᵉrôwaʻ) is “thy arm,” the outstretched arm, the foreleg of an animal. BSB’s “your strength” reads the metaphor for us. Ellicott, Poole, Barnes and Cambridge all gloss it as power (Job 22:9; Psalm 37:17; Zechariah 11:17); Poole and Gill argue it means specifically the children, who are a parent’s arm (Genesis 49:3; Psalm 127:4–5).
• מִֽהְי֥וֹת מִהְיוֹת (mih·yō·wṯ) is the preposition min on the infinitive construct of hâyâh — “from being.” BSB turns it into a result clause, “so that no one in it will reach old age.” The Hebrew is privative rather than consecutive: the felling is away from there ever being an old man.
• זָקֵ֖ן זָקֵן (zā·qên, H2205) is an adjective, “old, bearded.” BSB’s “reach old age” is an English abstraction for a Hebrew person: there will not be an old man. Gill records a rabbinic reading of zāqên as “elder” in office — no member of the family seated in the council — and attributes it to the Talmud, Ben Gersom and Abarbanel.

Where the English smooths the original

• וְהִבַּטְתָּ֙ וְהִבַּטְתָּ (wə·hib·baṭ·tā, H5027 nâbaṭ, Hiphil) is not neutral seeing but scanning, looking hard at. Pulpit: “thou shalt behold, i.e. see with wonder and astonishment.” BSB’s “You will see” is thin. Benson makes the whole interpretation hang on it: the verb’s proper force is that Eli watches this himself.
• צַ֣ר צַר (ṣar, H6862) is an adjective meaning “narrow,” and only by extension “adversary” or “distress.” There is no possessive on the following noun. BSB reads “distress in My dwelling place”; the King James tradition read “an enemy in my habitation,” which requires inserting my. Pulpit calls that insertion “violent” and without valid excuse. Both readings are in the field; the Hebrew word itself only says narrow.
• מָע֔וֹן מָעוֹן (mā·‘ō·wn, H4583) is the same noun as v. 29 — an abode, used of God’s tabernacle, of men’s homes, and of animals’ lairs. K&D takes it as the dwelling-place of God, not of Eli. Pulpit points out that because the word is so general (Jeremiah 9:10; Nahum 2:12), rendering ṣar mā‘ôn as “enemy of dwelling” yields no sense at all — which is why “narrowness of dwelling,” i.e. domestic distress, is preferred.
• יֵיטִ֖יב יֵיטִיב (yê·ṭîḇ, H3190, Hiphil) with the direct object marker on Israel is “He does good to Israel.” The subject is unstated. K&D: “The subject to the verb ייטיב is Jehovah, and is not expressly mentioned, simply because it is so clearly implied.” BSB’s passive-ish “all that is good in Israel” hides that the good in view is God’s own giving.

Where the English smooths the original

• אַכְרִ֤ית אַכְרִית (’aḵ·rîṯ, H3772 kârath, Hiphil) is the verb of cutting a covenant, here turned into the verb of cutting a man off from the altar. BSB reads the clause as “every one of you that I do not cut off”; Pulpit and K&D read the negative over the whole (“I will not cut off every one of thine”), which turns the sentence from a threat into a mercy with a sting. The Hebrew ʼîš plus negative carries both.
• וְלַאֲדִ֣יב וְלַאֲדִיב (wə·la·’ă·ḏîḇ, H109 ʼâdab) is a very rare root glossed simply “to languish,” here in the Hiphil, “to make pine away.” BSB’s “to grieve” is serviceable but generic; the Hebrew names a slow wasting, matched to the eyes that kâlâh, are used up.
• נַפְשֶׁ֑ךָ נַפְשֶׁךָ (nap̄·še·ḵā, H5315 nephesh) is “thy soul, thy breathing life” — not the heart. BSB reads “your heart”; Cambridge renders “vex thy soul” and notes the Septuagint has the third person (“his eyes,” “his soul”). The same noun returns in v. 35 of God’s own nephesh, which the English there renders “mind.”
• אֲנָשִֽׁים אֲנָשִׁים (’ă·nā·šîm, H582) is simply “men.” BSB supplies “by the sword of men” — the sword is not in the Hebrew. Cambridge: “Heb. men: i.e. when they come to manhood.” K&D: “ʼănāšîm, in contrast with zāqên, is used to denote men in the prime of life.” The clause says how old they will be, not what kills them.

Where the English smooths the original

• הָא֗וֹת הָאוֹת (hā·’ō·wṯ, H226 ʼôwth) is definite — “the sign,” a specific credential, glossed by Strong’s as “a signal… flag, beacon, monument, omen, evidence.” BSB’s “this sign” is idiomatic English; the Hebrew article marks it as the one appointed proof. Cambridge notes such signs “were often given by prophets as the credentials of their mission” (1 Samuel 10:7–9; 1 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 20:8–9; Luke 1:18, 20).
• שְׁנֵ֣י … שְׁנֵיהֶֽם שְׁנֵי … שְׁנֵיהֶם (H8147 shᵉnayim) — the dual is used twice, bracketing the two names. BSB’s “your two sons… they will both” renders the sense but loses the tolling repetition, in which the number is spoken, then the names, then the number again.
• בְּי֥וֹם אֶחָ֖ד בְּיוֹם אֶחָד is literally “in day one,” the numeral following its noun. BSB reads “on the same day.” The Hebrew does not say same; it says one — a single day will hold both deaths, which is precisely what makes it evidential rather than merely tragic.
• יָבֹא֙ יָבֹא (yā·ḇō, H935) is the same verb that opened the unit at v. 27, where the man of God came to Eli. BSB uses “came” there and “shall come” here, obscuring that the messenger’s arrival and the sign’s arrival are the same word — the word has come, and now the event will come after it.

Where the English smooths the original

• נֶאֱמָ֔ן נֶאֱמָן (ne·’ĕ·mān, H539 ʼâman, Niphal participle) stands twice in this verse — of the priest and of the house — and BSB renders it two different ways, “faithful” and “enduring.” Cambridge makes the point decisive: “it is the same Heb. word which is rendered ‘faithful,’ ‘sure,’ and ‘established.’” One word, one promise: the man is made trustworthy and so is his house.
• וּבְנַפְשִׁ֖י וּבְנַפְשִׁי (ū·ḇə·nap̄·šî, H5315 nephesh) is “and in My soul.” BSB reads “and mind.” It is the identical noun used of Eli’s wasting nephesh in v. 33 — the soul that pines and the soul whose desire is done are named alike, and English splits them into “heart” and “mind.”
• וּבָנִ֤יתִי … בַּ֣יִת וּבָנִיתִי … בַּיִת (H1129 bânâh / H1004 bayith) is a root-play the English cannot carry: God will build (bānîṯî) a built-thing (bayith). Set against v. 31, where the verb was gâdaʻ, to fell a tree, the unit turns here from timber cut down to a house raised up.
• כָּל־הַיָּמִֽים כָּל־הַיָּמִים is “all the days,” not ʻad-ʻôlâm, “unto forever” — which is exactly the phrase used of the revoked promise in v. 30. BSB renders it “for all time,” collapsing the distinction. Cambridge insists on it: “not, for ever, but all the days of his life.” The new promise is worded more modestly than the one being withdrawn, and that is a datum, not a detail.

Where the English smooths the original

• הַנּוֹתָר֙ הַנּוֹתָר (han·nō·w·ṯār, H3498 yâthar, Niphal participle) is “the one left over, the remainder.” BSB’s “everyone left” is right, but the root means to jut over, to exceed — it is the word for a surplus. The house that took the surplus of Israel’s offerings is now itself the leftover.
• לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺ֣ת לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺת (lə·hiš·ta·ḥă·wōṯ, H7812 shâchâh) means to prostrate, to bow oneself to the ground — the verb used of worship. BSB’s “bow down” keeps it; the older “crouch” (Poole, Geneva) caught the abjection. Cambridge glosses it flatly: “Lit. bow himself down.”
• לַאֲג֥וֹרַת כֶּ֖סֶף אֲגוֹרַת (’ă·ḡō·w·raṯ, H95) is, on Strong’s own gloss, “properly, something gathered.” Barnes: the word “is only found here,” and is thought to be connected with the gerah, the smallest Hebrew coin, a twentieth of a shekel. Cambridge: it “means such a coin as beggars would receive.” BSB’s “a piece of silver” is neutral where the Hebrew names the smallest thing a hand can hold.
• סְפָחֵ֥נִי סְפָחֵנִי (sə·p̄ā·ḥê·nî, H5596 çâphach, imperative with first-person suffix) means “attach me, join me on.” Strong’s: “properly, to scrape out, but in certain peculiar senses (of removal or association).” BSB reads “appoint me to some priestly office,” which sounds administrative; the Hebrew is a man asking to be stuck onto the edge of something — a rare verb, found in only six verses.