1 Samuel 14:46
in 1 Samuel 14Then Saul gave up his pursuit of the Philistines, and the Philistines returned to their own land.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then Saul went up from following the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own place.
KJV
Then Saul went up from following the Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own place.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 14
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThen Saul went up from following the Philistines,.... Returned home to his own city, finding that he could get no answer from the Lord, whether he should pursue further or not, and losing the time and opportunity of doing it, by examining into the affair of his son, and casting lots to find it out: and the Philistines went to their own place; their country and cities, such of them as remained, who were not cut off by their own and the sword of the Israelites. Josephus (n) says, Saul killed about 60,000 of them.
This site's exposition
Saul went up from following the Philistines
on 1 Samuel 14:46-47
The pursuit ends here, the victory left unfinished the way Jonathan warned it might be at verse 30, and the narrative widens from one battle to a summary of Saul's whole reign. Fighting on every side against Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zobah and the Philistines describes a king who is never at rest, and wherever he turned himself, he vexed them credits real, if flawed, kingship. The summary block that follows treats this as the shape of Saul's entire reign rather than one more campaign.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
And Saul withdrew, not pursuing the Philistines, etc. Indeed, teachers, conscious of their own frailty, realize they are not able to track or expel all the wiles of demons; but woe to those hearts to which the repelled and cast out unclean spirits return as …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4 · Written before 604.
proposed
When Jonathan's fault is discovered, when the king is found not to have fulfilled his oath, he is said to cease pursuing the Philistines, because when pastors are weighed down by their own weakness, they cannot vigorously seek the gains of others. For to cease pursuing the Philistines is to stop for a time pursuing the vices of others by preaching.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
51 And Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. 52 And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּ֣עַל | vaiyaal | and he went up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| שָׁא֔וּל | shaul | Saul | H7586 → | 402 times |
| מֵאַחֲרֵ֖י | meacharei | from after | H310 → | 715 times |
| פְּלִשְׁתִּ֑ים | pelishtim | [the] Philistines | H6430 → | 287 times |
| וּפְלִשְׁתִּ֖ים | ufelishtim | and [the] Philistines | H6430 → | 287 times |
| הָלְכ֥וּ | halekhu | they went | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| לִמְקוֹמָֽם׃ | limkomam | to own place their | H4725 → | 401 times |
וַיַּ֣עַלand he went up
vaiyaalH5927 →890 times
שָׁא֔וּלSaul
shaulH7586 →402 times
מֵאַחֲרֵ֖יfrom after
meachareiH310 →715 times
פְּלִשְׁתִּ֑ים[the] Philistines
pelishtimH6430 →287 times
וּפְלִשְׁתִּ֖יםand [the] Philistines
ufelishtimH6430 →287 times
הָלְכ֥וּthey went
halekhuH1980 →1546 times
לִמְקוֹמָֽם׃to own place their
limkomamH4725 →401 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
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; Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4; 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.