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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 26:8LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
- Jer 2:11Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
- Ps 78:61And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.
- Ps 78:64Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
- 1 Sam 4:11And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
- Hos 9:12Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
- Ps 106:20Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
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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