Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Samuel 13:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Preserves the KJV form of a textually broken regnal-age and duration notice.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4
The line at 1 Samuel 13:1 preserves the KJV form of a textually broken regnal-age and duration notice. Its place in 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4 matters because A textually damaged reign notice leads to Saul's selected force, Jonathan's strike at a Philistine garrison, Saul's trumpet, and Israel's summons to Gilgal.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Here the narrator preserves the KJV form of a textually broken regnal-age and duration notice, moving 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4 through the sequence summarized this way: A textually damaged reign notice leads to Saul's selected force, Jonathan's strike at a Philistine garrison, Saul's trumpet, and Israel's summons to Gilgal.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: A textually damaged reign notice leads to Saul's selected force, Jonathan's strike at a Philistine garrison, Saul's trumpet.
- Developing movement or outcome: Israel's summons to Gilgal.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Saul reigned one year”
In plain language: The KJV reflects a damaged regnal formula.
The Masoretic wording lacks a usable accession age and has a problematic duration.
Why it matters: Readers should not invent a repair or claim Saul was one year old.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
First Samuel 13:1 does not stand alone from 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4: it preserves the KJV form of a textually broken regnal-age and duration notice. The broken number must not be repaired silently, and the campaign does not authorize ethnic hatred, militarism, or transferring Jonathan's action into Saul's personal glory.
What Remains True
Preserves the KJV form of a textually broken regnal-age and duration notice. Within 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: The enduring claim is contextual rather than triumphal: A textually damaged reign notice leads to Saul's selected force, Jonathan's strike at a Philistine garrison, Saul's trumpet, and Israel's summons to Gilgal. The broken number must not be repaired silently, and the campaign does not authorize ethnic hatred, militarism, or transferring Jonathan's action into Saul's personal glory.
How It Can Shape Life
- Preserves the KJV form of a textually broken regnal-age and duration notice. The proportionate response is therefore the one traced from the complete unit: In situations that resemble “A broken regnal notice opens war with Philistia,” act truthfully, attend to the people affected, and choose accountable care rather than copying an ancient actor or forcing the scene into a modern slogan. The broken number must not be repaired silently, and the campaign does not authorize ethnic hatred, militarism, or transferring Jonathan's action into Saul's personal glory.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Samuel 13:1's precise role in 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4. Include the first historical horizon, material uncertainty, one person or cost a leader-centered reading could obscure, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4 — A broken regnal notice opens war with PhilistiaSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The Masoretic verse lacks Saul's accession age and preserves a problematic reign length; Greek and other witnesses do not supply one uncontested original form.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology, with the two KJV-Hebrew versification shifts stated rather than silently offset.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Sam.xml, OSIS 13:1–13:4; KJV 20:42 spans Hebrew 20:42–21:1, KJV 21:1–15 maps to Hebrew 21:2–16, KJV 23:29 maps to Hebrew 24:1, and KJV 24:1–22 maps to Hebrew 24:2–23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: 1 Samuel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only the translator notes actually printed for these verses, used for lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and older-English controls.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Notes, 1 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 504–543, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 13:1–13:4
Open source ↗peer reviewed scholarly article
The Textual Affiliations of 4QSama
Emanuel Tov
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 14, 1979
Supports: Material Qumran-Samuel evidence and witness relationships, not a complete apparatus or automatic preference for one text.
Exact location: Tov, 'The Textual Affiliations of 4QSama,' JSOT 14 (1979), pp. 37–53, with 4QSama readings checked only where a unit names them
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source
Moshe Garsiel
The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10.5, 2010
Supports: One relatively early integrated/two-edition account of composition, structure, and historiographic value, retained as a contested model.
Exact location: Garsiel, JHS 10.5 (2010), pp. 1–42, named structural or composition discussion covering the movement that includes 1 Samuel 13:1–13:4
Open source ↗scholarly monograph frontmatter and table of contents
The Theology of the Book of Samuel
John Goldingay
Cambridge University Press, 2024
Supports: Only the publisher-visible book architecture and theological scope; the paywalled body is not treated as inspected.
Exact location: Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024), official frontmatter and TOC: 1 Samuel 13:1–20:42[21:1], pp. 77–110
Open source ↗