---
title: 1 Samuel 2:6
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-samuel-2-6/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-samuel-2-6.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Samuel 2:6
testament: OT
section: History
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Samuel 2:6

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

## JW Usage

1 Samuel 2:6 ("Jehovah is a killer of life and a preserver of life; he brings down to the grave and he brings up") is read in Watchtower literature as a description of Jehovah's unique sovereignty over life and death, an Old Testament confession of his role as the only God. The verse is not typically set beside John 5:21 or 1 Corinthians 15:45, where Jesus is identified as the one who gives life and as the "life-giving spirit." Doing so would require acknowledging that an Old Testament prerogative of Yahweh has been transferred to Jesus.

## Protestant Usage

Pair 1 Samuel 2:6 with Deuteronomy 32:39 ("I am the One, and there is no god together with me. I put to death, and I make alive") and then John 5:21 ("just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so the Son also makes alive those whom he wants to") and 1 Corinthians 15:45 ("the last Adam became a life-giving spirit"). The pattern is a category transfer: what the Torah reserves to Yahweh — the authority to kill and make alive, to bring down to Sheol and bring up — is attributed to Jesus in his resurrection glory. Adam received life; Jesus gives life. That is not "perfect man replacing fallen man"; it is divine prerogative exercised by the Son. Use 1 Samuel 2:6 as the Old Testament warrant for the claim that life-giving is Yahweh's exclusive right, then let John 5:21 place Jesus inside that category. The life-giving spirit of 1 Corinthians 15:45 is not merely a risen body-category marker; it names Jesus as the one who now exercises the Yahweh prerogative 1 Samuel 2:6 reserves.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Last Adam — More Than a Man](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1corinthians15-45-last-adam.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 [Deity of Christ]
- [Hadēs Is Not the Grave](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/hades-the-grave-rendering.md) — Luke 16:23 / Revelation 1:18 — The NWT Collapses Two Greek Words Into One [NWT Translation]