1 Samuel 14:42

Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan.” And Jonathan was selected.

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

And Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.

ASV

And Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.

YLT

And Saul saith, `Cast between me and Jonathan my son;' and Jonathan is captured.

DBT

And Saul said, Cast [lots] between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.

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Voices3

On this verse

Those who cast lots often discover hidden things through conjectures drawn from visible things. Thus indeed Jonah is identified while fleeing (Jon. 1); thus Matthias the Apostle is found worthy of apostolic eminence (Acts 1). We therefore cast spiritual lots when, through the outward signs of works, we arrive at knowledge of hidden things. For the lot of each person is his own manner of life.

Gregory the Dialogist· Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4, 604patristic

Related commentary

And Saul said, cast lots between me and Jonathan my son,.....

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

And Jonathan was taken - The object of the inquiry most evidently was, Who has gone contrary to the kings adjuration today? The answer to that must be Jonathan. But was this a proof of the Divine displeasure against the man? By no means: the holy oracle told the truth, but neither that oracle nor the God who gave it fixed any blame upon Jonathan, and his own conscience acquits him. He seeks not pardon from God, because he is conscious he had not transgressed. But why did not God answer the priest that day?

Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832evangelical

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Cross-references

2 linked verses

The verses this one reaches2

Joshua 7:18
And he had the family of Zabdi come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.
Proverbs 18:18
Casting the lot ends quarrels and separates strong opponents.

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Around this verse

Word doors

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

Who & where

About this book

David Slays Goliath — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

1 Samuel — The transition from judges to monarchy. Samuel rises as prophet-judge; Israel demands a king; Saul rises and is rejected; David is anointed in obscurity and flees across the wilderness. Three lives overlapping — the prophetic-judicial-royal handoff.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Traditionally Samuel (with additions after his death by Nathan and Gad — cf. 1 Chr 29:29)
Date: Events c. 1050–1010 BC; compilation during the early monarchy

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