And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.
Parallel translations
- WEB She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel”; because God’s ark was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
- KJV And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.
- NKJV Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
- NASB And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
- NLT She named the child Ichabod (which means “Where is the glory?”), for she said, “Israel’s glory is gone.” She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and husband were dead.
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
She names her son Ichabod, meaning 'the glory has departed from Israel,' because the ark was captured. The lost ark symbolizes the apparent departure of God's glory from His people.
Overview
With her dying breath she gives the child a name memorializing the national tragedy: God's glory has gone. The capture of the ark represents the withdrawal of Yahweh's manifest presence due to Israel's sin. Yet the wider story will show God's glory was never truly defeated, anticipating the day when God's glory returns fully in Christ (John 1:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 26:8O LORD, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.
- Jer 2:11Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
- Ps 78:61He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.
- Ps 78:64His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
- 1 Sam 4:11The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
- Hos 9:12Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!
- Ps 106:20They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.
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 4:21 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
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