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When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šə·mū·’êl way·yā·māṯ ḵāl yiś·rā·’êl way·yiq·qā·ḇə·ṣū way·yis·pə·ḏū- lōw way·yiq·bə·ru·hū bə·ḇê·ṯōw bā·rā·māh dā·wiḏ way·yā·qām way·yê·reḏ ’el- miḏ·bar pā·rān
Word by word16 · parsed
√ Shᵉmûwʼêl — Shemuel, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Shᵉmûwʼêl — H8050, “the name of three Israelites” The name stands first in the English rendering but second in the Hebrew clause, after the verb. Ellicott's estimate is the standard one: “Since Moses, none so great as Samuel had arisen” — prophet, last judge, kingmaker, founder of the prophetic schools.
√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
mûwth — to die (Qal, consecutive imperfect) The plainest verb in the lexicon, and the narrative gives it no ornament: no last words, no oracle, no successor named. Samuel had already told Saul the kingdom was torn away; his death removes the last living voice that had both anointed Saul and anointed David, leaving the two men alone in the wilderness with each other.
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
kôl — properly, the whole (construct) Construct with Israel: “the whole of Israel.” The word carries the weight Ellicott and Cambridge both hang on it — a fractured nation acting, once, as one.
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
Yisrâʼêl — H3478 Named as a single actor, not as tribes or as Saul's subjects. The state is at war with itself; the funeral is the one thing it does undivided.
√ qâbats — to grasp, iConjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
qâbats — to gather (Niphal) The Niphal stem makes the assembly something that happens to Israel as much as something Israel does. The same root gathers the elders to Samuel at Ramah in 1 Samuel 8:4 to demand a king; the verb that opened the monarchy closes the prophet's life at the same place.
√ çâphad — properly, to tear the hair and beat the breasts (as Orientals do in grief)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
çâphad — to tear the hair and beat the breasts in grief A rare and physical verb (29 verses). Scripture's darkest judgment oracles are built by denying exactly this word together with burial (Jeremiah 16:4, 6; 25:33). Samuel receives both, in full, from the whole nation — the narrator's quiet verdict on the man.
ל֔וֹlōwfor him
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
Simple prepositional phrase, “for him”; no Strong's number is carried in the interlinear for the suffix form.
√ qâbar — to interConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine pluralthird person masculine singular
qâbar — to inter Burial and lament arrive as a pair (see note on index 5). Henry's point is pastoral rather than lexical, and it is the point the verb makes: a people are judged by how they bury those who prayed for them.
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-bNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
bayith — a house, in the greatest variation of applications, especially family The lexicon's own breadth is the whole exegetical problem here. Geneva takes it at the widest end — “among his own kindred”; JFB at the architectural end — “his own mausoleum”; K&D in the middle — the dwelling with its court. The Hebrew will bear all three, and the ceremonial law (Numbers 19) is what pushes most readers off the narrowest.
√ Râmâh — Ramah, the name of four places in PalestinePreposition-b, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular
Râmâh — H7414, the name of four places in Palestine The parse records a definite article on the proper name (Preposition-b, Article) — Hebrew still hears the word as an appellative height, so it takes “the.” Ramah is where Samuel's mother vowed him, where he judged, where he kept his house; he is buried at the one address that held his whole life.
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
Dâvid — H1732, the youngest son of Jesse The name enters the verse only after the grave is closed. Samuel anointed him in 1 Samuel 16 and the two scarcely meet again; the anointing outlives the anointer.
√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
qûwm — to rise, in various applications “And David arose.” The same verb that elsewhere means to stand up, to be established, to take action; here it is pure motion, and the Pulpit Commentary insists it is not grief-flight but the logistics of six hundred men needing food.
√ yârad — to descend (literally, to go downwardsConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
yârad — to descend, literally to go downwards The physical drop from the hill country toward the southern desert. Set against qûwm in the same breath — he rises and he goes down — the pair reads as motion without ascent: the king-elect moving further from the throne, not nearer.
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
Directional preposition, “unto / toward” (ʼêl, H413).
√ midbâr — a pasture (iNounmasculine singular construct
midbâr — a pasture Not empty sand. Strong's root sense is grazing land, and JFB builds the whole scene on it: “Like other wildernesses, it presented large tracts of natural pasture” — which is why Nabal's three thousand sheep, and David's hungry men, are both there in verse 2.
√ Pâʼrân — Paran, a desert of ArabiaNounproperfeminine singular
Pâʼrân — H6290, a desert of Arabia A rare name (10 verses in the whole Hebrew Bible). It is Ishmael's dwelling (Genesis 21:21), the staging ground from which the spies were sent (Numbers 13:3, 26), and the mountain from which God shines in Deuteronomy 33:2 and Habakkuk 3:3. The LXX reads “Maon” here instead, and Barnes prefers it; Cambridge and the Pulpit keep Paran taken broadly.