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1 Samuel 17:27

in 1 Samuel 17

The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

KJV

And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

This verse in 1 Samuel 17

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

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.

This site's exposition

That is what will be done for the man who kills him

John Gill lists what the people repeated to David: riches, the king's daughter and a father's house set free, as verse 25 gave it. David hears the same answer twice, here and at verse 30. The promise is public, and Saul is bound by it.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

HOMILIES ON GENESIS 46.9-10 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

If you don't mind, however, let us refer to a theme in our preaching earlier, so that by bringing the whole story to mind we may learn that nothing is stronger than the person protected by help from on high, and nothing is more vulnerable than the person deprived of this help, surrounded though he may be with countless armies. So this man David, quite young though he was and living in his father's house on account of his immaturity, heard the call of destiny for his virtue to become conspicuous; he was urged by his father to observe his brothers; he obeyed and was sent off to them. So, after coming on the scene to observe them, he saw the battle line drawn against the foreigner Goliath and the whole people of Saul's company withdrawing in fright and the king himself placed in particular danger. For a while he was happy to be an onlooker and went to see the strange and unusual sight of one person pitted against so many thousands. But his brothers could not tolerate the manliness of his bearing; they were moved to hatred and said to him, "Have you come for no other reason than to see the war." You haven't really come to observe us.Notice, however, his good sense and great restraint. Instead of saying anything rash to them, anything harsh, he extinguished the flame of their hatred; he mollified their hatred by saying, "Isn't it only a word?" I mean, surely you haven't observed me taking position in the ranks? I simply wanted to watch and find out the source of this man's extraordinary frenzy. "After all, who is this foreigner who reproaches the ranks of the living God?" Then, on hearing the man's awful arrogance and the unspeakable cowardice of those who had gone with Saul, he said, "What will be given to the man who cuts off his head?" He showed great boldness of spirit through these words and caused amazement in every one. […]

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

The people, however, reported to him the same word, etc. With the Lord clearly teaching, and proclaiming the ejection and downfall of the prince of the world, all the people indeed, as the evangelist recalls, were amazed, hearing him: but the envious lawyers and chief …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And the people answered him after this manner,.... Told him what was proposed to be done in honour to the man that should attempt to kill him, and succeed: saying, so shall it be done to the man that killeth him; as before related, that he should be enriched, marry the king's daughter, and his family be ennobled, 1Sa 17:25.

The words behind it

11 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.

  • וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand it said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לוֹ֙to <the> him

    lo

  • הָעָ֔םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • כַּדָּבָ֥רaccording to the manner

    kadavarH1697 →1440 times

  • הַזֶּ֖ה<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • כֹּ֣הthus

    kohH3541 →577 times

  • יֵעָשֶׂ֔הit will be done

    yeasehH6213 →2628 times

  • לָאִ֖ישׁfor the man

    laishH376 →1663 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • יַכֶּֽנּוּ׃he will strike down him

    yakenuH5221 →499 times

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

The walk

5 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 Samuel 17:25

    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…

    it leads to

    • Joshua 15:16

      And Caleb said, “To the man who strikes down Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage.”

    • 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…

    • Revelation 3:12

      The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the…

    • 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…

    • Matthew 17:26

      “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus declared.

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 Bede, Commentary on Samuel; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 46.9-10; 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).