“Yahweh kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up.
Parallel translations
- KJV The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.
- BSB The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- NKJV “TheLord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.
- NASB “The Lord puts to death and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and brings up.
- NLT The Lord gives both death and life; he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Lord holds power over death and life, bringing down to the grave and raising up. He alone is sovereign over human destiny.
Overview
Hannah confesses God's absolute sovereignty over life, death, and even the realm of the dead. This is poetic confession of God's total dominion over every human condition. Such language reaches forward to the hope of resurrection, fully revealed in Christ, who holds the keys of death and Hades.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Deut 32:39“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
- Isa 26:19Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.
- Rev 1:18and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
- Job 5:18For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole.
- Jonah 2:2–6He said, “I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.
- 2 Kgs 5:7When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.”
- John 5:25–29Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.
- John 11:25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
- Hos 6:1–2“Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
- Matt 12:40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
- 1 Sam 20:3David swore moreover, and said, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, ‘Don’t let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:’ but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
- 2 Cor 1:9–10Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
- Ps 116:3The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
- Ps 68:20God is to us a God of deliverance. To Yahweh, the Lord, belongs escape from death.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 2:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.