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1 Samuel 17:25

in 1 Samuel 17

Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see this man who keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.

KJV

And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.

This verse in 1 Samuel 17

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
Free in Israel - In all the other passages (fifteen) where this word occurs, it means free, as opposed to being a slave (Deu 15:12-13, Deu 15:18, etc.) Here it may imply a freedom from all such services and burdens as are spoken of in 1Sa 8:11-17.

This site's exposition

To the man who kills him the king will give great riches

on 1 Samuel 17:25-27

Saul has posted a price, great riches, his daughter, and his father’s house exempt from taxation. David’s question turns the camp’s words inside out, the soldiers saying "this man" and David saying "this uncircumcised Philistine," and the armies of Israel become "the armies of the living God" in his mouth. It is the first theological sentence spoken in the chapter, and it comes from its youngest man.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

Therefore, the man who strikes him, the king will enrich, etc. They say, the man who will overthrow the kingdom of the devil, the entire people of Israel acknowledges, distinguished above all nations by royal and priestly mystery, as the possessor of all the riches …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

And one of the Israelites said: Have you seen? etc. One of the Israelites, asking whether he saw David or the Philistine; those who were awaiting the redemption of Israel, already illuminated by the miracles at the Lord's birth, with a careful mind inquired whether …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

How much concerned David was to assert the honour of God and Israel against the impudent challenges of this champion. He asked what reward was promised to him that should slay this Philistine (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And the men of Israel said,....

The words behind it

30 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.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶר׀and he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אִ֣ישׁ[the] man of

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • הַרְּאִיתֶם֙¿ have you seen

    hareitemH7200 →1300 times

  • הָאִ֤ישׁthe man

    haishH376 →1663 times

  • הָֽעֹלֶה֙who comes up

    haolehH5927 →890 times

  • הַזֶּ֔ה<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • כִּ֛יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • לְחָרֵ֥ףto defy

    lecharefH2778 →41 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • עֹלֶ֑ה[he is] coming up

    ʾolehH5927 →890 times

  • וְֽ֠הָיָהand it will be

    vehayahH1961 →3559 times

  • הָאִ֨ישׁthe man

    haishH376 →1663 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־who

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • יַכֶּ֜נּוּhe will strike down him

    yakenuH5221 →499 times

  • יַעְשְׁרֶ֥נּוּhe will make rich him

    ya'sherenuH6238 →

  • הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ׀the king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • עֹ֣שֶׁרrich[es]

    ʾosherH6239 →

  • גָּד֗וֹלgreat

    gadolH1419 →526 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • בִּתּוֹ֙daughter his

    bitoH1323 →588 times

  • יִתֶּן־he will give

    yiten-H5414 →2011 times

  • ל֔וֹto <the> him

    lo

  • וְאֵת֙and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • בֵּ֣ית[the] house of

    beitH1004 →2046 times

  • אָבִ֔יוfather his

    ʾavivH1 →1212 times

  • יַעֲשֶׂ֥הhe will make

    yaasehH6213 →2628 times

  • חָפְשִׁ֖יfree

    chafeshiH2670 →

  • בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃in Israel

    beyisraelH3478 →2507 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

    Revelation 2:7

    He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 2:17

      He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone…

    • Revelation 2:11

      He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.

    • Matthew 11:15

      He who has ears, let him hear.

    • Matthew 13:43

      Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

    • Revelation 13:9

      He who has an ear, let him hear:

  • Through

    Revelation 3:5

    Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His…

    it leads to

    • Matthew 10:32

      Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.

    • Revelation 21:27

      But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

    • Luke 12:8

      I tell you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

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

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).