1 Samuel 29:4
2 And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish.
3 Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?
And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?
5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
6 Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not.
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the war. What better way for him to regain the favor of his master than with the heads of our men?
- KJV
- And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?
- WEB
- But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what should this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Should it not be with the heads of these men?
- ASV
- But he princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us: for wherewith should this [fellow] reconcile himself unto his lord? should it not be with the heads of these men?
- DARBY
- But the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go again to his place where thou hast appointed him, that he go not down with us to the battle, that in the battle he be not an adversary to us; for wherewith should this [fellow] reconcile himself to his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?
- BLB
- And the princes of the Philistines were angry with him. And the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make this fellow return, that he may go back to the place that you assigned him there, and do not let him go down with us to the battle, that he become not our adversary in the battle. For by what shall this one make himself acceptable to his master, if not by the heads of those men?
- ÅB
- Men filistrenes høvdinger ble vrede på ham og sa til ham: Send mannen hjem og la ham vende tilbake til det sted som du har anvist ham! Han skal ikke dra med oss i striden; for da kunne han vende seg mot oss i slaget. Hvordan skulle han vel kunne bedre gjenvinne sin herres yndest enn ved å komme til ham med disse menns hoder?
- OTB
- Men filisternes høvdinger ble vrede på ham, og filisternes høvdinger sa til ham, «La mannen gå tilbake, så han kan vende tilbake til det stedet du har tildelt ham, og la ham ikke dra med oss i striden, så han ikke blir en motstander for oss under striden. For med hva skulle denne mannen gjøre seg til behag for sin herre? Ville det ikke være med hodene til disse mennene?
- B1930
- Men filistrenes høvdinger blev vrede på ham og sa til ham: Send mannen hjem og la ham vende tilbake til det sted som du har anvist ham! Han skal ikke dra med oss i striden; for da kunde han vende sig mot oss i slaget. Hvorledes skulde han vel kunne bedre gjenvinne sin herres yndest enn ved å komme til ham med disse menns hoder?
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
1 Samuel 14:21
Moreover the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan.
Read in context1 Samuel 27:6
Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.
Read in context1 Chronicles 12:19
And there fell some of Manasseh to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle: but they helped them not: for the lords of the Philistines upon advisement sent him away, saying, He will fall to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads.
Read in contextLuke 16:8
And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Read in context