1 Samuel 4:14
in 1 Samuel 4Eli heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” So the man hurried over and reported to Eli.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man hasted, and came and told Eli.
KJV
And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 4
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The calamities announced to Samuel as about to fall upon the family of Eli [1Sa 2:34] were now inflicted in the death of his two sons, and after his death, by that of his daughter-in-law, whose infant son received a name that perpetuated the fallen glory of the church and nation [1Sa 4:19-22]. The public disaster was completed by the capture of the ark.
This site's exposition
with his clothes torn and dirt on his head
on 1 Samuel 4:12-14
A Benjamite runs from the battle line to Shiloh “with his clothes torn and dirt on his head”, the signs of disaster. Eli sits by the road watching “because his heart trembled for the ark of God”, which older writers read as a rightly ordered fear despite his failure as a father. The city's outcry reaches Eli before the messenger does, so he asks about the noise first.
This site's exposition
Eli heard the outcry
Eli hears the outcry before any word reaches him, and he has to ask what it means. Albert Barnes noted that Eli's blindness left him alert to sound and unable to see the messenger's torn clothes and dusty head. The news had to come in words.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
And Eli heard the sound of the crying, etc. And the reputation of the repenting people reached even to the ears of the chief priests through the exhortation of the apostles, and it was not gladly received. Finally, while they were speaking to the people, …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 2 · Written before 604.
proposed
16. A tumult is the outcry of the people, but a confused one, when indeed without the discipline of listening, with many speaking at once, a great murmuring arises without any showing of reason. When Eli therefore heard the wailing of the city, he said: What is the sound of this tumult? Because indeed the authority of the Synagogue, with its faithless subjects grieving over the preaching of Jesus Christ, when it wished to hear the cause of their grief, did not receive a reasonable response, but a confusion of complaint.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), but the messenger was loth to tell him first, and therefore passed him by, and told it in the city, with all the aggravating circumstances; and now both the ears of every one that heard it tingled, as was foretold, ch. iii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And when Eli heard the noise of the crying,.... The shrieks of the men and women, which were very clamorous and terrible.
He is told there is an express come from the army, who relates the story to him very distinctly, and with great confidence, having himself been an eye-witness of it,
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
By the road looking out. By the side of the road, he was anxiously waiting. 6 He wanted to be situated in a place where a messenger would have to pass him first, and thus give him the news.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ע | vaiyishma' | and he heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| עֵלִי֙ | ʾeli | Eli | H5941 → | 33 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| ק֣וֹל | kol | [the] sound of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| הַצְּעָקָ֔ה | hatzeakah | the outcry | H6818 → | |
| וַיֹּ֕אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מֶ֛ה | meh | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| ק֥וֹל | kol | [is] [the] sound of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| הֶהָמ֖וֹן | hehamon | the uproar | H1995 → | 83 times |
| הַזֶּ֑ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| וְהָאִ֣ישׁ | vehaish | and the man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| מִהַ֔ר | mihar | he hurried | H4116 → | 68 times |
| וַיָּבֹ֖א | vaiyavo' | and he came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| וַיַּגֵּ֥ד | vaiyaged | and he told | H5046 → | 370 times |
| לְעֵלִֽי׃ | leeli | to Eli | H5941 → | 33 times |
וַיִּשְׁמַ֤עand he heard
vaiyishma'H8085 →1159 times
עֵלִי֙Eli
ʾeliH5941 →33 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
ק֣וֹל[the] sound of
kolH6963 →506 times
הַצְּעָקָ֔הthe outcry
hatzeakahH6818 →
וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
מֶ֛הwhat?
mehH4100 →752 times
ק֥וֹל[is] [the] sound of
kolH6963 →506 times
הֶהָמ֖וֹןthe uproar
hehamonH1995 →83 times
הַזֶּ֑ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
וְהָאִ֣ישׁand the man
vehaishH376 →1663 times
מִהַ֔רhe hurried
miharH4116 →68 times
וַיָּבֹ֖אand he came
vaiyavo'H935 →2568 times
וַיַּגֵּ֥דand he told
vaiyagedH5046 →370 times
לְעֵלִֽי׃to Eli
leeliH5941 →33 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About 1 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).