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1 Samuel 18:20

in 1 Samuel 18

Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

KJV

And Michal Saul’s daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

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This verse in 1 Samuel 18

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David

on 1 Samuel 18:20-21

Michal is the one woman in Scripture the text says loved a man. Saul hears it and turns her love into a weapon, "so that she may be a snare to him." The word snare marks Saul's whole strategy in this chapter, since he cannot strike David himself.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Symeon the New Theologian

DISCOURSES 4.2 · Written before 1022.

proposed

Why did Saul seek to apprehend and kill David whom he had formerly honored as himself and greatly loved as a benefactor? Was it by nature or out of an evil will? Obviously it was out of ill will. No one is born evil by …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

And it was reported to Saul, and it pleased him, etc. The envious leaders of the Jews, recognizing that the crowd loved the Lord and flocked with diligent intention to hear Him, which they detested in other matters, began to be pleased in this one …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The thing pleased him - It partly relieved him from the charge of breaking his faith.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַתֶּאֱהַ֛בand she loved

    vateehavH157 →211 times

  • מִיכַ֥לMichal

    mikhalH4324 →18 times

  • בַּת־[the] daughter of

    bat-H1323 →588 times

  • שָׁא֖וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • דָּוִ֑דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • וַיַּגִּ֣דוּand people told

    vaiyagiduH5046 →370 times

  • לְשָׁא֔וּלto Saul

    leshaulH7586 →402 times

  • וַיִּשַׁ֥רand it was pleasing

    vaiyisharH3474 →25 times

  • הַדָּבָ֖רthe matter

    hadavarH1697 →1440 times

  • בְּעֵינָֽיו׃in view his

    beeinavH5869 →887 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 18:28

    When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David,

    it leads to

    • Genesis 30:27

      But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

    • Genesis 37:8–11

      “Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.

    • 1 Samuel 24:20

      Now I know for sure that you will be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.

    • Revelation 3:9

      Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know…

    • 1 Samuel 26:25

      Saul said to him, “May you be blessed, David my son. You will accomplish great things and will surely prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

Saul Attempts to Kill David — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Saul Attempts to Kill David — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 18 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Symeon the New Theologian, DISCOURSES 4.2.

Read on in 1 Samuel 18 →