בְּדַבְּר֖וֹ (bə·ḏab·bə·rōw) in 1 Samuel 17:28: Preposition-b | Verb - Piel - Infinitive construct | third person masculine singular
בְּדַבְּר֖וֹ (bə·ḏab·bə·rōw) in 1 Samuel 17:28
Source Word
First Samuel 17:28 row 5 aligns the beth-prefixed H1696 infinitive with speaking in the clause where Eliab hears David.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
Heard him speaking fixes the moment and participant relation: Eliab hears David in conversation before anger turns into accusation. The beth with the infinitive supports the circumstantial English speaking, while the suffix supplies David as the one engaged in speech.
How To Communicate It
Trace the suffix to David, treat the beth-infinitive as the circumstance of Eliab's hearing, and separate the narrator's report from Eliab's claims about motive.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not let the temporal speech phrase turn Eliab's angry interpretation into the text's final judgment on David.
- The infinitive phrase supplies circumstance rather than a new main action.
- The form does not validate Eliab's judgment of David's heart, identify David's questions as prideful, or make speaking itself the cause of Eliab's anger.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Preposition-b | Verb - Piel - Infinitive construct | third person masculine singular
Piel
Inf
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Beth preposition
Third person masculine singular
The beth-prefixed Piel infinitive construct forms the temporal or circumstantial phrase when he was speaking, and the attached third-person masculine singular suffix identifies David as the speaker whom Eliab heard.
The form locates Eliab's hearing and reaction during David's conversation and keeps David as the suffix-marked speaker.
What The Form Does In This Verse
Eliab's hearing David speak with the men about the Philistine and the king's promised reward
The narrative transition from David's questions to his oldest brother's burning anger and accusation
The form locates Eliab's hearing and reaction during David's conversation and keeps David as the suffix-marked speaker.
The form does not validate Eliab's judgment of David's heart, identify David's questions as prideful, or make speaking itself the cause of Eliab's anger.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The form precisely links David's public questions to Eliab's overhearing while preserving the difference between event and accusation.
The beth-prefixed Piel infinitive construct forms the temporal or circumstantial phrase when he was speaking, and the attached third-person masculine singular suffix identifies David as the speaker whom Eliab heard.. The form locates Eliab's hearing and reaction during David's conversation and keeps David as the suffix-marked speaker.. Attached to Eliab's hearing David speak with the men about the Philistine and the king's promised reward. Governed by the narrative transition from David's questions to his oldest brother's burning anger and accusation. The form does not validate Eliab's judgment of David's heart, identify David's questions as prideful, or make speaking itself the cause of Eliab's anger.
What does speaking contribute to First Samuel 17:28? It marks the conversation Eliab overhears and sets the circumstance for his angry response without endorsing his accusation.
Direct: The beth with the infinitive supports the circumstantial English speaking, while the suffix supplies David as the one engaged in speech.
The infinitive phrase supplies circumstance rather than a new main action. The suffix identifies David as speaker, but the form does not evaluate the content or motive of his questions.
Prep-b | V-Piel-Inf | 3ms at 1 Samuel 17:28 treated as the whole interpretation: Do not let the temporal speech phrase turn Eliab's angry interpretation into the text's final judgment on David. Eliab's accusation treated as the narrator's verified diagnosis because it follows heard him speaking: Keep "speaking" connected to בְּדַבְּר֖וֹ, row 5, and the full 1 Samuel 17:28 clause.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
First Samuel 17:28 row 5 aligns the beth-prefixed H1696 infinitive with speaking in the clause where Eliab hears David.
This row 5 H1696 witness describes David's ongoing conversation, distinct from Samuel's deliberate report of the people's words to the Lord in First Samuel 8:21.
The beth-prefixed Piel infinitive construct forms the temporal or circumstantial phrase when he was speaking, and the attached third-person masculine singular suffix identifies David as the speaker whom Eliab heard.
First Samuel 17:28 reports Eliab's angry response after he overhears David speaking with the soldiers, then records accusations the larger narrative does not simply endorse.
The scene prepares the contrast between human judgment and the Lord's purposes in David's confrontation with Goliath; readers should distinguish narrated accusation from authoritative evaluation.
Trace the suffix to David, treat the beth-infinitive as the circumstance of Eliab's hearing, and separate the narrator's report from Eliab's claims about motive.
Do not let the temporal speech phrase turn Eliab's angry interpretation into the text's final judgment on David.