Bible Strands
1 Samuel 10:8
And you shall go before me to Gilgal, and surely I will come to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you are to do.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Samuel addresses Saul after listing prophetic signs, during the interval between Saul’s anointing and the public confirmation of his reign.
The words — יָרַדְתָּ (ya.rad.ta) translates to “you will go down,” and הַעֲלוֹת (ha.'a.lot) means “to offer up.” These terms direct the physical movement to Gilgal and the specific sacrificial act Samuel will perform.
The thread — Gilgal functions as the designated place for renewing Saul’s kingship (1 Samuel 11:14) and later becomes the site where Saul disobeys the waiting command (1 Samuel 13:8). The seven-day period establishes a fixed timeline that later narrative explicitly violates.
Why it lands — The verse requires waiting for a set duration before acting, demanding disciplined obedience to divine timing rather than immediate initiative.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 11:14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.”
- 1 Samuel 13:4 And all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked an outpost of the Philistines, and now Israel has become a stench to the Philistines!” Then the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.
- 1 Samuel 13:8 And Saul waited seven days for the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the troops began to desert Saul.
- 1 Samuel 15:33 But Samuel declared: “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.