וַיְבִאֵ֖הוּ (way·ḇi·’ê·hū) in 1 Samuel 17:54: Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
וַיְבִאֵ֖הוּ (way·ḇi·’ê·hū) in 1 Samuel 17:54
Source Word
1 Samuel 17:54 token 6 is וַיְבִאֵ֖הוּ, H935, parsed Conj-w | V-Hifil-ConsecImperf-3ms | 3ms and aligned with and brought.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The suffix makes the head, not David or the later-mentioned weapons, the transported object in this compact narrative step.
How To Communicate It
Use careful participant tracking and name the violence soberly, keeping grammatical explanation separate from ethical endorsement.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- The suffix retrieves the Philistine's head, while the weapons belong to a different clause.
- Narrative report is not by itself a command, moral approval, or model for treating enemies.
- Avoid sensationalizing the violent image or using it to diminish human dignity.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Hifil
Consecutive imperfect
Third
Masculine
Singular
Conj-w
Third person masculine singular
The consecutive Hifil continues David's post-battle actions and presents him carrying an object to a destination. Here the attached masculine suffix points back to the Philistine's head, so English supplies it even though the aligned display segment is and brought.
The verb reports David taking the defeated Philistine's head to Jerusalem before the verse separately mentions the weapons.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The verb follows David's taking of the Philistine's head, whose masculine noun supplies the suffix referent.
The aftermath sequence that distinguishes the head carried to Jerusalem from the weapons placed in David's tent.
It narrates David's bringing the head to Jerusalem and advances the account to a named destination.
It does not make David the object, identify the weapons as the suffixed object, celebrate bodily desecration, or prescribe an act for later readers.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The suffix supplies an object omitted from the aligned display segment and must be resolved amid violent narrative detail.
Consecutive Hifil with a head-referencing suffix. moves the previously named head to Jerusalem. Attached to David's taking of the Philistine's head. Governed by the post-battle action sequence. The later weapons are outside this verb's object relation.
What did David bring to Jerusalem? The suffix points back to the Philistine's head; Goliath's weapons are handled in the verse's next clause.
Interpretive: The aligned segment gives and brought, while the suffix supplies the it visible in the full verse translation.
The 3ms suffix agrees with the Hebrew noun for head, not necessarily with a male person. The same surface form in verse 57 has a different object because its clause names different participants. A reported war practice is not automatically approved or prescribed.
The suffix refers to David: David is the continuing subject; the preceding head is the transported object. the verb includes the weapons: The weapons are governed by a separate verb in the coordinated clause. narration licenses violent display: Describe the ancient event soberly and seek ethical teaching from the wider canonical context.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
1 Samuel 17:54 token 6 is וַיְבִאֵ֖הוּ, H935, parsed Conj-w | V-Hifil-ConsecImperf-3ms | 3ms and aligned with and brought.
בּוֹא can describe coming or entering; in this Hifil clause it reports bringing an object to Jerusalem.
David is the continuing subject, the suffix refers to the grammatically masculine head, and Jerusalem is the destination. The weapons belong to the following coordinated clause.
The verse records what David did with the Philistine's head and weapons after the conflict.
The violent detail belongs to an ancient battle narrative and should be interpreted within that account and the wider biblical witness concerning enemies, justice, and human dignity.
Clarify the pronoun's referent without sensationalizing the object or converting narrative description into moral permission.
Do not infer that the grammar commends trophy-taking, commands violence, or resolves every historical question about Jerusalem.