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1 Samuel 20:28

in 1 Samuel 20

Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth-lehem:

KJV

And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth–lehem:

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This verse in 1 Samuel 20

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today

on 1 Samuel 20:27-29

By the second day the ordinary explanation has run out, and Saul asks Jonathan directly, calling David "the son of Jesse" and not by name. Jonathan gives the excuse rehearsed at verse 6, a clan sacrifice at Bethlehem and a brother’s summons, true as far as it goes.

This site's exposition

David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem

Jonathan repeats the words David gave him at verse 6 almost exactly. He answers as the one who granted the leave, which puts the absence on his own authority. Matthew Henry notes that Saul cared about the absence only as a lost chance to harm David.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

And Jonathan answered Saul: He earnestly requested me that he might go to Bethlehem, etc. It indeed seems strange according to the letter, why he should think and inquire about David in this manner, or Jonathan should respond, when the very obvious cause of royal …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

That he was absent upon a good occasion, keeping the feast in another place, though not here, sent for by his elder brother, who was now more respectful to him than he had been ( ch. xvii.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And Jonathan answered Saul,....

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.

  • וַיַּ֥עַןand he answered

    vaiyaanH6030 →331 times

  • יְהוֹנָתָ֖ןJonathan

    yehonatanH3083 →81 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • שָׁא֑וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • נִשְׁאֹ֨לcertainly <to ask>

    nisholH7592 →171 times

  • נִשְׁאַ֥לhe asked for himself

    nishalH7592 →171 times

  • דָּוִ֛דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • מֵעִמָּדִ֖יfrom with me

    meimadiH5978 →42 times

  • עַד־to

    ʾad-H5704 →1261 times

  • בֵּ֥יתBeth-

    beitH1035 →82 times

  • לָֽחֶם׃-lehem

    lachemH1035 →82 times

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

Related verses

1 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 20:6

    If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 9:12

      “Yes, he is ahead of you,” they answered. “Hurry now, for today he has come to the city because the people have a sacrifice on the high place.

    • 1 Samuel 17:58

      “Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.

    • John 7:42

      Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”

    • Deuteronomy 12:5

      Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

    • 1 Samuel 16:2–5

      “How can I go?” Samuel asked. “Saul will hear of it and kill me!” The LORD answered, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

David and Jonathan — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
David and Jonathan — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 20 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Samuel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Samuel 20 →