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1 Samuel 20:4

in 1 Samuel 20

Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.

KJV

Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.

This verse in 1 Samuel 20

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Whatever you desire, I will do for you

on 1 Samuel 20:4-6

Jonathan's open promise, "Whatever you desire, I will do for you," becomes the shape of David's test. The New Moon meal the king kept publicly will show whether Saul still means to kill him. David's excuse, if missed, is "an annual sacrifice for his whole clan" at Bethlehem.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS 5 · Written before 407.

proposed

Here some make the charge that the apostle has divided the human being into two parts, and that he states that a human's combined essence conflicts with itself, and that the body has a contest with the soul. But this is clearly not so, for by "the flesh" he does not mean the body; if he did, what would be the sense of the clause immediately following, "for it lusts," he says, "against the Spirit"? Yet the body does not move but is moved, is not an agent but is acted upon. How then does it lust, for lust belongs to the soul not to the body, for in another place it is said, "My soul longs," and, "Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you" … and "So my soul pants." Therefore when Paul says, "the flesh lusts against the Spirit," he means that the flesh is not the human body but the depraved will, as where he says, "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit," and again, "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Jonathan promises to give him intelligence, and confirms his friendship, ver. 9-23. He finds his father implacable, ver. 24-34. He gives David notice of it, in the manner they had agreed on, ver.

quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-9/24-anchored-1-5

Then said Jonathan unto David,.... Now giving credit to what he had said, and in order to comfort and support him under the apprehensions he had of danger: whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee; for the preservation of his life, by speaking to his father on his behalf, endeavouring to dissuade him from his evil intentions, or by hiding and concealing him in some obscure place, that he might not execute his evil designs upon him, or by any method he could point out to him.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Jonathan faithfully promises to get and give him intelligence how his father stood affected to him, and renews the covenant of friendship with him,

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The method of trial he proposed was very natural, and would certainly discover how Saul stood affected to him. The two next days Saul was to dine publicly, upon occasion of the solemnities of the new moon, when extraordinary sacrifices were offered and feasts made upon the sacrifices.

The words behind it

9 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.

  • וַיֹּ֥אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוֹנָתָ֖ןJonathan

    yehonatanH3083 →81 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • דָּוִ֑דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • מַה־whatever

    mah-H4100 →752 times

  • תֹּאמַ֥רit will say

    tomarH559 →5305 times

  • נַפְשְׁךָ֖self your

    nafshekhaH5315 →754 times

  • וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂה־so I may do

    veeeseh-H6213 →2628 times

  • לָּֽךְ׃ פfor <the> you

    lakh

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

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS 5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.