1 Samuel 8:13 — Word Study
WLCוְאֶת־ בְּנוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם יִקָּ֑ח לְרַקָּח֥וֹת וּלְטַבָּח֖וֹת וּלְאֹפֽוֹת׃
BSAAndʼêth he will takelâqach▸ [to seize, to get] your daughtersbath [female children, women] [to be] perfumersraqqâchâh△ [as, in the role of, confectionaries, makers of perfumes] cooksṭabbâchâh△ [female cooks, food preparers] and bakersʼâphâh [bread-makers, those who bake]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וְאֶת־ | and the object marker | Conjunction, particle |
| בְּנוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם | daughters your | Noun common feminine plural construct, suffix |
| יִקָּ֑ח | he will take | Verb, Qal, imperfect third person masculine singular |
| לְרַקָּח֥וֹת | to perfumers | Preposition, noun common feminine plural absolute |
| וּלְטַבָּח֖וֹת | and to cooks | Conjunction, preposition, noun common feminine plural absolute |
| וּלְאֹפֽוֹת׃ | and to bakers | Conjunction, preposition, noun common feminine plural absolute |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. |
| KJV | And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. |
| ASV | And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. |
| YLT | 'And your daughters he doth take for perfumers, and for cooks, and for bakers; |
| WEB | He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers. |
| BBE | Your daughters he will take to be makers of perfumes and cooks and bread-makers. |
The translations agree on יִקָּ֑ח as he will take, with no significant differences noted.
The sentence has a main clause followed by a prepositional phrase that describes the roles the daughters will take.
6 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them ›
clause
verbלָקַח
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
2 of 6 occur nowhere else in the Old Testament — words chosen on purpose.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — 1 Samuel 8:13
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Warning About a Kinggenerated
1 Samuel 8:13 is part of a larger warning from Samuel to the Israelites about the implications of choosing a king. Samuel outlines the various ways a king will take from the people, including their daughters, to serve in different capacities. This reflects a significant change in their societal roles and highlights the potential loss of autonomy under a monarchy.
Cross References
The Key Word — יִקָּ֑ח, yi.Kachgenerated
The verb לָקַח (*laqach*) means 'to take' and can imply seizing or receiving. In this context, it suggests a forceful taking, indicating that the king will not simply ask for the daughters but will take them for his service.
This verb is in the imperfect tense, which denotes an action that is ongoing or incomplete, suggesting that this taking will be a continuous act under the reign of a king.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
The translations generally agree on the meaning of יִקָּ֑ח, rendering it as he will take in all versions.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The finite verb יִקָּ֑ח governs the entire clause, indicating the action of taking. The structure is straightforward, with the object and its roles clearly outlined.
The Hebrew word order emphasizes the verb at the beginning, which highlights the action of taking as the central focus of the sentence.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates יִקָּ֑ח with λήμψεται, which also means 'he will take.' This choice reflects a direct correspondence in meaning, maintaining the sense of taking possession.
This translation indicates a consistent understanding of the action across both the Hebrew and Greek texts.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
1 Samuel 8:13 warns that the king will take your daughters to serve as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. This reflects a significant change in their roles, as they will be taken from their families for the king's service.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
It means that the king will require your daughters to serve in various roles, indicating a loss of personal freedom.
These roles highlight the domestic and service-oriented positions women would be forced into under a monarchy.
It serves as a caution about the implications of choosing a king, emphasizing the potential sacrifices the people would have to make.
It illustrates the shift from a theocratic society to a monarchy, where the king's demands could infringe on personal and family rights.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What does this warning tell us about the responsibilities of leadership?
- How can we apply the lessons from this text to our understanding of authority today?
- In what ways might we see similar dynamics in our own society regarding roles and responsibilities?
- How does this passage challenge our views on service and autonomy?
The early church on this verse — how the Fathers read it
Early commentators reflect on this verse, interpreting the implications of the king's actions regarding the daughters of Israel.
7. There follows: He will also make your daughters perfumers, and cooks, and bakers. By the name of daughters, the weak minds placed within holy Church are designated.Early Church Fathers on 1 Samuel 8 →
What then is the meaning of what he adds: that the daughters of the Israelites would become perfumers, cooks, and bakers? But by the term "daughters" sometimes weakness is signified, sometimes fruitfulness.Early Church Fathers on 1 Samuel 8 →
He will also make your daughters his ointment-makers, etc. He will make your synagogues, or the souls of the deceived, or certainly thoughts once free from pure chastity, to favor his depraved iniquities with wicked flattery;Early Church Fathers on 1 Samuel 8 →
Commentators on this verse — 6 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on 1 Samuel 8:13 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd he will take your daughters to be confectionaries,.... Such as deal in spices, and mix them, and make them up in various forms very agreeable to the taste.
Read John Gill on 1 Samuel 8 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. He will take your daughters to be confectionaries.
Read Robert Jamieson on 1 Samuel 8 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy BibleWhich would be more grievous to their parents, and more dangerous to themselves, because of the tenderness of that sex, and liableness to many injuries.
Read Matthew Poole on 1 Samuel 8 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments1 Samuel 8:13 And he will take your daughters [to be] confectionaries, and [to be] cooks, and [to be] bakers.Ver. 13. And he will take your daughters.] Whereat you may fret, but cannot help it. “ Vanae sine viribus irae. ” All your comfort will be, Etsi actio est iniusta, tamen passio est iusta, No remedy but patience.
Read John Trapp on 1 Samuel 8 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(13) Confectionaries.—Better rendered perfumers—that is, makers of ointments and scents, of which Orientals are inordinately fond.
Read Charles John Ellicott on 1 Samuel 8 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges13. to be confectionaries] The original form of “confectioner” not however in its modern sense, but = “one who makes confections” (Exodus 30:35), i.e. compounds of spices and perfumes, a perfumer.
Read Cambridge on 1 Samuel 8 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.
He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers.
And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.
He will take your daughters to be ointment makers, cooks, and bakers.
Tyndale line
And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
And he will take your daughters to be confectioneries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
He will also take your daughters and make them apoticaries, and cookes, and bakers.
Strictly literal
And he will take your daughters for perfumers, and cooks, and bakers.
'And your daughters he doth take for perfumers, and for cooks, and for bakers;
And he takes your daughters for perfumers, and for cooks, and for bakers;
And your daughters will he take for ointment makers, and for cooks, and for bakers.
He will also take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.
From the Latin
Your daughters also he will take to make him ointments, and to be his cooks, and bakers.
Simplified
He will take your daughters and have them work as perfume-makers, cooks, and bakers.
Your daughters he will take to be makers of perfumes and cooks and bread-makers.
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint agree closely in wording, with six of the six words matched. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain partial restorations but align with the Masoretic Text in meaning, though some words were supplied by an editor.
וְאֶת־ בְּנוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם יִקָּ֑ח לְרַקָּח֥וֹת וּלְטַבָּח֖וֹת וּלְאֹפֽוֹת׃
6 of the 6 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
[ואת] [בנותי׳כם] יקח לרקחות [ולטבחות] [ולאפות]
nothing on the leather here — 2 partly restored, 4 supplied entire by an editor.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in 1 Samuel 8:13
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
אֵת (eth) is primarily a grammatical marker in Hebrew, indicating the definite direct object of a verb. It is not translated into English and typically precedes nouns that are definite. The word is derived from a demonstrative sense of entity, related to the Hebrew word for 'self.' Its Aramaic equivalent is יָת (yat).
אֵת the mark of the accusative, prefixed as a rule only to nouns that are definite
base
H853 אֵת the mark of the accusative, prefixed as a rule only to nouns that are definite
853 'eth ayth
apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of
entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more
definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or
namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).
see HEBREW for 0226
אֵת (et) — [Obj.].
sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative
Aramaic equivalent: yat (יָת "whom" H3487)
Conj | DirObjM — Conjunction · particleHC/To
בַּת (bat) means 'daughter' and encompasses a range of meanings including female child, young women, and even personifications of cities or inhabitants. It can also refer to villages in certain contexts. The word is derived from a root meaning 'to build' and is used in various figurative senses, such as 'branch' or 'apple of the eye.'
בַּת 587 n.f. daughter
daughter, female child
young women, women
with name of city, land, or people, poet. personif. of that city or inhabitants
pl. = villages, after name of city
in phrases denoting character, quality, etc.
ostrich
fig.
of vine = branch
as n. relat.
base
H1323 בַּת daughter . daughter, female child
. young women, women
. with name of city, land, or people, poet. personif. of that city or inhabitants
. pl. = villages, after name of city
. in phrases denoting character, quality, etc.
. ostrich
. fig.
. of vine = branch
. as n. relat.
1323 bath bath
from 1129 (as feminine of 1121); a daughter (used in the same
wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and
figuratively):--apple (of the eye), branch, company, daughter,
X first, X old, + owl, town, village.
see HEBREW for 01129
see HEBREW for 01121
בַּת (bat) — daughter.
: daughter
1) daughter
1a) daughter, girl, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, granddaughters, female child, cousin
1a1) as polite address
1a2) as designation of women of a particular place
2) young women, women
1a3) as personification
1a4) daughter-villages
1a5) description of character
Also means: bat (בַּת ": village" H1323H)
בַּת (bat) — daughter: village.
: village
1) daughter
1a) daughter, girl, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, granddaughters, female child, cousin
1a1) as polite address
1a2) as designation of women of a particular place
2) young women, women
1a3) as personification
1a4) daughter-villages
1a5) description of character
בַּת (bat) — Bath (Shua).
A woman living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.38.2;
daughter of: Shua (H7770); married to Judah (H3063);
mother of: Er (H6147), Onan (H0209) and Shelah (H7956)
N-fp | Suff — Noun common feminine plural construct · suffixHNcfpc/Sp2mp
The Hebrew word לָקַח (*laqach*) means 'to take' and encompasses a wide range of actions, including to receive, seize, capture, and carry away. It can refer to taking something in hand, taking a wife, or even taking vengeance. The verb has various forms indicating different nuances, such as being taken away or captured.
לָקַח 965 vb. take
Qal
take, take in hand
take and carry along with oneself
take from, or out of
take, carry away
take away from, so as to deprive of
esp. take away life
take to or for a person
take up, upon = put upon
= fetch
take = lead, conduct (with or without contact)
take = capture, seize
take = carry off
in phr. take vengeance
Niph.
be captured, of ark
be taken away, removed
be taken, brought unto
Pu.
be taken from, out of
= be stolen from
be taken captive
be taken away, removed
Hoph.
be taken, brought unto
be taken out of
be taken away from
Hithp. lit. fire taking hold of itself, of lightning
base
H3947 לָקַח take .. take, take in hand
. take and carry along with oneself
. . take from, or out of
. take, carry away
. take away from, so as to deprive of
. esp. take away life
. take to or for a person
. take up, upon = put upon
. = fetch
. take = lead, conduct (with or without contact)
. take = capture, seize
. take = carry off
. in phr. take vengeance
. . be captured, of ark
. be taken away, removed
. be taken, brought unto
. . be taken from, out of
. = be stolen from
. be taken captive
. be taken away, removed
. . be taken, brought unto
. be taken out of
. be taken away from
. lit. fire taking hold of itself, of lightning
3947 laqach law-kakh'
a primitive root; to take (in the widest variety of
applications):--accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch,
get, infold, X many, mingle, place, receive(-ing), reserve,
seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.
לָקַח (la.qach) — to take: take.
: take
1) to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to take, take in the hand
1a2) to take and carry along
1a3) to take from, take out of, take, carry away, take away
1a4) to take to or for a person, procure, get, take possession of, select, choose, take in marriage, receive, accept
1a5) to take up or upon, put upon
1a6) to fetch
1a7) to take, lead, conduct
1a8) to take, capture, seize
1a9) to take, carry off 1a10) to take (vengeance)
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to be captured
1b2) to be taken away, be removed
1b3) to be taken, brought unto
1c) (Pual)
1c1) to be taken from or out of
1c2) to be stolen from
1c3) to be taken captive
1c4) to be taken away, be removed
1d) (Hophal)
1d1) to be taken unto, be brought unto
1d2) to be taken out of
1d3) to be taken away
1e) (Hithpael)
1e1) to take hold of oneself
V-Qal-Imperf-3ms — Verb · Qal · imperfect third person masculine singularHVqi3ms
tak: Most of the very numerous examples of this word are still in good use and only a few call for special attention. "To take" in the sense of "capture" is still common, but when a person or living animal is in point, modern English usually adds "prisoner" or "captive." English Versions of the Bible not infrequently has this addition (Ge 14:14, etc.), but more commonly "take" is used without it (Jos 10:39; Job 5:13; Sirach 23:21; Joh 7:30, etc.). An occasional obscurity is thus caused, as in Ge 27:3, "take me venison" for "hunt venison for me." "To take advice" (2Ch…
רַקָּחָה (*raqqachah*) refers to a female perfumer or ointment-maker. It is derived from the related word רַקַּח (*raqqach*), which indicates a connection to the craft of making perfumes. The term appears in 1 Samuel 8:13.
[רַקָּחָה] n.f. (female) ointment-maker, perfumer;—pl. 1 S 8:13
ref
H7548 רַקָּחָה
7548 raqqachah rak-kaw-khaw'
feminine of 7547; a female perfumer:--confectioner.
see HEBREW for 07547
רַקָּחָה (raq.qa.chah) — perfumer.
ointment-maker (female), perfumer (female)
Prep | N-fp — Preposition · noun common feminine plural absoluteHR/Ncfpa
טַבָחָה (tabbachah) means 'female cook' and is derived from the masculine form טַבָּח (tabbach). It appears in the plural form in 1 Samuel 8:13. The entries consistently emphasize its meaning related to cooking.
[טַבָחָה] n.f. female cook;—only pl. abs. 1 S 8:13
ref
H2879 טַבָחָה, טַבָּחָה
2879 tabbachah tab-baw-khaw'
feminine of 2876; a female cook:--cook.
see HEBREW for 02876
טַבָּחָה (tab.ba.chah) — cook.
female cook, cook
Conj | Prep | N-fp — Conjunction · preposition · noun common feminine plural absoluteHC/R/Ncfpa
אָפָה (aphah) is a Hebrew verb meaning 'to bake.' It is a primitive root that specifically refers to cooking, particularly baking. The entries indicate its use in various forms, such as a noun for 'baker' and a passive form meaning 'to be baked.' There are no noted disagreements among the lexicons.
H644 אָפָה bake
644 'aphah aw-faw'
a primitive root; to cook, especially to bake:--bake(-r,
(-meats)).
אָפָה (a.phah) — to bake.
1) to bake
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to bake
1a2) (subst) baker
1b) (Niphal) to be baked, baked
Conj | Prep | V-Qal — Conjunction · preposition · noun common feminine plural absoluteHC/R/Ncfpa