Skip to content
mannafest.faith

1 Samuel 14:49

in 1 Samuel 14

Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. His two daughters were named Merab (his firstborn) and Michal (his younger daughter).

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishvi, and Malchishua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the first-born Merab, and the name of the younger Michal:

KJV

Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishui, and Melchi–shua: and the names of his two daughters were these; the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal:

This verse in 1 Samuel 14

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
This enumeration of Saul’s children and chief officers is according to the analogy of the subsequent annals of David and Solomen’s reign. But the one here called Ishui, is elsewhere (marginal references) called Abi-nadab; and a fourth son, Esh-baal or Ish-bosheth, is here omitted.

This site's exposition

the names of his two daughters were these

on 1 Samuel 14:49-51

The family list names Merab and Michal, daughters whose fates the story has not yet reached: Merab is promised to Goliath's slayer at 17:25 and given to another man at 18:19, and Michal becomes David's wife and loses him to Saul's jealousy. Abner the captain of the host is here identified as the son of Ner, Saul's own uncle, which makes Abner the king's cousin and explains the loyalty that carries Saul's house into the war that follows his death. The list is plain record, but every name in it reappears later in the book.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

Now, the sons of Saul were, etc. The three sons of Saul represent great leaders of the Catholic faith, which proclaims one God in three persons. Since they are what they are not by their own virtue but by the grace of God, and because …

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4 · Written before 604.

proposed

The sons of Saul, who are born not to any ordinary inheritance but to a kingdom, represent those of whom it is said to the holy Church through the Psalmist: "Instead of your fathers, sons have been born to you; you shall make them princes over all the earth" (Psalm 44:17). We recognize that they are three, because they defend the faith of the holy Trinity by preaching it. But since the sons of the king are named after Amalek was struck down, let us refer their number to the merits of the virtues.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Ishui - Called also Abinadab. chap. xxxi, 2. Ishbosheth, Saul's other son is here omitted, because he intended to mention only those of his sons who went with him into the battles here mentioned, and who were afterwards slain with him.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. 4 And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

And the sons of Saul were Jonathan,....
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Now the sons of Saul - We do not find Ishbosheth here. Calmet says it was “because he was too young, and did not go with him to the war, for he mentions only those who were with him.” Why then mention his daughters and his wife? Did they go with him to the war?

The words behind it

16 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.

  • וַיִּֽהְיוּ֙and they were

    vaiyihyuH19613559 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] sons of

    beneiH11214930 times

  • שָׁא֔וּלSaul

    shaulH7586402 times

  • יוֹנָתָ֥ןJonathan

    yonatanH312943 times

  • וְיִשְׁוִ֖יand Ishvi

    veyishviH3440

  • וּמַלְכִּי־and Malki-

    umalki-H444410 times

  • שׁ֑וּעַShua

    shua'H444410 times

  • וְשֵׁם֙and [the] name of

    veshemH8034864 times

  • שְׁתֵּ֣י[the] two

    sheteiH8147768 times

  • בְנֹתָ֔יוdaughters his

    venotavH1323588 times

  • שֵׁ֤ם[the] name of

    shemH8034864 times

  • הַבְּכִירָה֙the firstborn

    habekhirahH1067

  • מֵרַ֔ב[was] Merab

    meravH47643 times

  • וְשֵׁ֥םand [the] name of

    veshemH8034864 times

  • הַקְּטַנָּ֖הthe young [one]

    haketanahH6996101 times

  • מִיכַֽל׃[was] Michal

    mikhalH432418 times

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

The walk

8 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 Chronicles 8:33

    Ner was the father of Kish, Kish was the father of Saul, and Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 31:2

      The Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Samuel 9:1

      Now there was a Benjamite, a powerful man, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin.

    • 1 Samuel 14:49–51

      Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. His two daughters were named Merab (his firstborn) and Michal (his younger daughter).

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Samuel 2:8

      Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, moved him to Mahanaim,

    • Acts 13:21

      Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them forty years under Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 31:2

    The Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 8:33

      Ner was the father of Kish, Kish was the father of Saul, and Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.

    • Exodus 20:5

      You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…

  • Through

    1 Chronicles 9:39

    Ner was the father of Kish, Kish was the father of Saul, and Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 13:22

      So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About 1 Samuel

This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.