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Is It Actually in the Bible?

Phrases people quote as Scripture. The real verse, or the honest answer that there is not one.

"He will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw" (1 Samuel 2:15): modern readers hear "sodden" as soaked or drunk, not boiled.

In the KJV, "sodden" simply means boiled.

KJV word, meaning shifted
1 Samuel 2:15

1 Samuel 2:15, in every translation this tool compares.

What is actually going on

In 1 Samuel 2:15, Eli's corrupt sons' servant demands raw meat instead of "sodden flesh" so the priest can grab the best cuts for roasting before the boiling is even done. A modern reader's ear jumps to "sodden with drink": soaked, saturated, maybe drunk. But in 1611 "sodden" just meant "boiled." It's the old past participle of "seethe" (Old English seoþan, "to boil"): sod was the past tense, sodden the participle, the same pattern as ride/rode/ridden.

Once "boil" took over as the everyday verb, "sodden" drifted into figurative territory: soaked, saturated, and eventually the dull, waterlogged look of a heavy drinker, which is the only sense that survived into modern English. The literal cooking meaning this verse actually uses is gone from everyday speech.

All claims

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