Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Samuel 4:2 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 2. 2And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Reports Israel's defeat and about four thousand battlefield deaths.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2
1 Samuel 4:1–4:2 supplies the necessary frame for verse 4:2. Here the narrator reports Israel's defeat and about four thousand battlefield deaths, within this larger movement: Samuel's established word leads directly into battle at Ebenezer, where the Philistines defeat Israel and about four thousand die.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The unit “Samuel's word leads into Israel's first defeat” needs this line's precise work: it reports Israel's defeat and about four thousand battlefield deaths. The verse remains one part of the scene rather than its complete claim.
What Remains True
Reports Israel's defeat and about four thousand battlefield deaths. Within 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: The enduring claim is contextual rather than triumphal: Samuel's established word leads directly into battle at Ebenezer, where the Philistines defeat Israel and about four thousand die. Prophetic recognition does not guarantee military victory, and the casualty notice does not make dead soldiers into scenery or ancient Philistines into a modern enemy.
How It Can Shape Life
- Reports Israel's defeat and about four thousand battlefield deaths. The proportionate response is therefore the one traced from the complete unit: In situations that resemble “Samuel's word leads into Israel's first defeat,” 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. Prophetic recognition does not guarantee military victory, and the casualty notice does not make dead soldiers into scenery or ancient Philistines into a modern enemy.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2 — Samuel's word leads into Israel's first defeatSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
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 4:1–4:2, 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 4:1–4:2; 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 4:1–4:2
Open source ↗