1 Samuel 14:37
in 1 Samuel 14So Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You give them into the hand of Israel?” But God did not answer him that day.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day.
KJV
And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 14
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Asked counsel - The technical phrase for inquiring of God by Urim and Thummim, and applied also to inquiry of other oracles.
This site's exposition
Let us go down after the Philistines by night
on 1 Samuel 14:36-37
Saul proposes to press the victory through the night, and the priest counsels inquiry first, saying "We must consult God here" before any move. Saul inquires, and the narrator records that "God did not answer him that day," the earliest case of the LORD declining to answer Saul. The pattern ends at Endor in chapter 28, where Saul inquires, hears nothing, and turns to the medium.
This site's exposition
Shall I go down after the Philistines
Albert Barnes notes that the verb for Saul's inquiry is the technical term for asking God through the Urim and Thummim. Matthew Henry held that a denied prayer calls for a search for the sin behind it. Saul begins that search at verse 38.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4 · Written before 604.
proposed
What does it mean that the words of the consulting king, which the people praise, the priest declares must be brought before the Lord, except that obscure and great matters, which escape the simple, are never rightly ordered if we do not seek their outcome in the sanctuary of the mind through careful meditation? For to approach the Lord is to know His will through secret contemplation. And it is rightly called an approach, because we move from external things to internal ones when we try to know the outcome of our work in the divine will.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Note, When God denies our prayers it concerns us to enquire what the sin is that has provoked him to do so. Let us see where the sin is,
): " Shall I go down after the Philistines? His falling foul on his son Jonathan: and the rest of this paragraph is wholly concerning him: for, while he is prosecuted, the Philistines make their escape.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
But, when Jonathan is in danger, Saul's word is no longer a law to them, but with the utmost zeal they oppose the execution of his sentence: " Shall Jonathan die --that blessing, that darling, of his country? Shall that life be sacrificed to a punctilio of law and honour which was so bravely exposed for the public service, and to which we owe our lives and triumphs?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
And Saul asked counsel of God,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
He answered him not that day - Why was this answer delayed? Surely Jonathan’s eating the honey was no sin. This could not have excited God’s displeasure. And yet the lot found out Jonathan! But did this argue that he had incurred guilt in the sight of God? I answer: It did not; for Jonathan was delivered, by the authority of the people, from his father’s rash curse; no propitiation is offered for his supposed transgression to induce God to pardon it; nor do we find any displeasure of God manifested on the occasion. See below.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשְׁאַ֤ל | vaiyishal | and he enquired | H7592 → | 171 times |
| שָׁאוּל֙ | shaul | Saul | H7586 → | 402 times |
| בֵּֽאלֹהִ֔ים | belohim | by God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| הַֽאֵרֵד֙ | haered | ¿ will I go down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| אַחֲרֵ֣י | ʾacharei | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים | felishtim | [the] Philistines | H6430 → | 287 times |
| הֲתִתְּנֵ֖ם | hatitenem | ¿ will you give them | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| בְּיַ֣ד | beyad | in [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עָנָ֖הוּ | ʾanahu | he answered him | H6030 → | 331 times |
| בַּיּ֥וֹם | baiyom | on the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַהֽוּא׃ | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
וַיִּשְׁאַ֤לand he enquired
vaiyishalH7592 →171 times
שָׁאוּל֙Saul
shaulH7586 →402 times
בֵּֽאלֹהִ֔יםby God
belohimH430 →2601 times
הַֽאֵרֵד֙¿ will I go down
haeredH3381 →381 times
אַחֲרֵ֣יafter
ʾachareiH310 →715 times
פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים[the] Philistines
felishtimH6430 →287 times
הֲתִתְּנֵ֖ם¿ will you give them
hatitenemH5414 →2011 times
בְּיַ֣דin [the] hand of
beyadH3027 →1618 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
עָנָ֖הוּhe answered him
ʾanahuH6030 →331 times
בַּיּ֥וֹםon the day
baiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַהֽוּא׃<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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 28:6He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.
it leads to
- Numbers 12:6
He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.
- Lamentations 2:9
Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find…
- Numbers 27:21
He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the LORD by the judgment of the Urim. At his command, he and all the Israelites with him—the entire congregation—will…
- Ezekiel 20:1–3
In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and they sat down before me.
- Numbers 12:6
Through
1 Kings 22:5But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of the LORD.”
it leads to
- Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- Proverbs 3:5–6
Through
2 Samuel 5:19So David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” “Go,” replied the LORD, “for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 2:1
Some time later, David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” “Go up,” the LORD answered. Then David asked, “Where should I go?” “To Hebron,” replied…
- 1 Samuel 23:2
So David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”
- Judges 20:28
and Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, served before it.) The Israelites asked, “Should we again go out to battle against our brothers the Benjamites, or should we stop?” The LORD answered,…
- 2 Samuel 2:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.