1 Samuel 4:22
in 1 Samuel 4“The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “for the ark of God has been captured.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And she said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.
KJV
And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 4
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The lesson of the ruin brought upon Churches by the covetousness and profligacy of their priests, which is here taught us so forcibly, and which has been again and again illustrated in Jews and Christians, is too solemn and important to be overlooked. When the glory of holiness departs from what should be a holy community, the glory of God’s presence has already departed, and the outward tokens of His protection may be expected to depart soon likewise. (Compare Eze 10:18; Eze 11:23; Rev 2:5.)
This site's exposition
she named the boy Ichabod
on 1 Samuel 4:21-22
She names the child Ichabod and gives the reason twice, “The glory has departed from Israel”, once for the ark and the dead of her house and once for the ark alone. Psalm 78:60 and Jeremiah 7:12 and 14 later read this day as the Lord forsaking Shiloh, a warning to a later generation. Shiloh never again holds the ark or the tabernacle in Israel's worship.
This site's exposition
The glory has departed from Israel
Her second saying drops the family and names the ark alone. Albert Barnes rendered the verb as gone into captivity and set this departure beside Ezekiel 10:18 and 11:23, where the glory of the LORD leaves the temple and the city. Matthew Henry wrote that when God goes, all good goes.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 2 · Written before 604.
proposed
27. The ark indeed is captured: because now, by God's authority, the sacraments of Holy Scripture are retained by true believers with the capacity of true understanding. And the glory of Israel is transferred: because, after it fell from true religion, it ceased to be fragrant through the reputation of good fame. Moreover, the glory of Israel is rightly said not to perish, but to be transferred: because the fame of religion, which it lost, passed over to the Gentiles.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Nothing is more cutting, more killing, to a faithful Israelite, than the want and loss of these. If God go, the glory goes, and all good goes. Woe unto us if he depart!
This made her give her child a name which should perpetuate the remembrance of the calamity and her sense of it. She has nothing to say to the child, only it being her province, now that her husband was dead, to name the child, she orders them to call it I-chabod, that is, Where is the glory? Or, Alas for the glory! or, There is no glory (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And she said,....
Perhaps it is meant of his prophecy against the house of Eli. This was generally known and talked of, and all that were serious and observing compared the events here related, when they came to pass, with the prophecy, and saw it accomplished in them.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתֹּ֕אמֶר | vatomer | and she said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| גָּלָ֥ה | galah | it has gone into exile | H1540 → | 186 times |
| כָב֖וֹד | khavod | glory | H3519 → | 200 times |
| מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | miyisrael | from Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נִלְקַ֖ח | nilkach | it has been taken | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אֲר֥וֹן | ʾaron | [the] ark of | H727 → | 202 times |
| הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃ פ | haelohim | <the> God | H430 → | 2601 times |
וַתֹּ֕אמֶרand she said
vatomerH559 →5305 times
גָּלָ֥הit has gone into exile
galahH1540 →186 times
כָב֖וֹדglory
khavodH3519 →200 times
מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֑לfrom Israel
miyisraelH3478 →2507 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
נִלְקַ֖חit has been taken
nilkachH3947 →966 times
אֲר֥וֹן[the] ark of
ʾaronH727 →202 times
הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃ פ<the> God
haelohimH430 →2601 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
2 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 2:17His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”
it leads to
- Psalms 69:9
because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.
- Psalms 119:139
My zeal has consumed me because my foes forget Your words.
- Psalms 69:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About 1 Samuel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.