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1 Samuel 19:24

in 1 Samuel 19

Then Saul stripped off his robes and also prophesied before Samuel. And he collapsed and lay naked all that day and night. That is why it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

KJV

And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

This verse in 1 Samuel 19

Commentary

14 notes on this verse

A commentator

Gregory of Nyssa

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 3.4 · Written before 395.

For, by the arguments wherewith he [Eunomius] endeavours to destroy the truth, he is often himself unwittingly drawn into an advocacy of the very doctrines against which he is contending: Some such thing the history tells us concerning Saul, that once, when moved with wrath against the prophets, he was overcome by grace, and was found as one of the inspired, (the Spirit of prophecy willing, as I suppose, to instruct the apostate by means of himself,) whence the surprising nature of the event became a proverb in his after life, as the history records such an expression by way of wonder, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

This site's exposition

came to the large cistern at Secu

on 1 Samuel 19:22-24

Saul goes himself, and the Spirit of God comes upon him before he reaches Naioth, so he prophesies from the cistern at Secu onward and lies before Samuel all day and night. The saying about Saul among the prophets returns from 10:11 to 12, now over a man the Spirit only stops. Wesley reads the collapse as God’s ordering of the hour, giving David room to slip away.

This site's exposition

Is Saul also among the prophets?

John Gill and John Wesley read naked as stripped to the undergarment, the royal robe laid aside. The king lies before the prophet who anointed him. Gregory of Nyssa turned the proverb on Eunomius, whose arguments against the truth kept ending in support for it.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

Now, it seems to me that fortuitous circumstance also is sometimes the cause of prophesying, as is true in the present case of Caiaphas. He was high priest of that year [in which] Jesus was to die for the people that the whole nation might not perish. For although others were high priests … no one prophesies except the high priest of the year in which Jesus was to suffer.And it was fortuitous circumstance that caused the messengers of Saul to prophesy when they were sent to David, along with Saul himself.

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

SERMON 162A · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

The book of Kings [Samuel] gives us an example about prophecy. Saul was the persecutor of David. When he was persecuting him, he sent guards to drag him away to punishment, and those who were sent to bring David to be slain found him among the prophets; and Samuel was there too.… So he had fled to the place where besides Samuel, the most distinguished of all the prophets, there were also many other prophets. Pushing their way among them, while they were prophesying, came the emissaries of Saul, to drag him off, as I said, to death. The spirit of God leaped upon them and they began to prophesy, having come to lead a holy and just man of God to the execution block and snatch him away from among the prophets. They were suddenly filled with the spirit of God and turned into prophets. It's possible this happened because of their innocence; after all, they hadn't come of their own accord to arrest him but had been sent by their king. And perhaps they had indeed come to the place where David was but weren't going to do what Saul had told them to; perhaps they too were intending to stay there. Because such things even happen today. Sometimes a bailiff is sent by high authority to drag somebody out of the church; he dare not act against God, and in order not to face execution himself he stays there, in the place he was sent, to haul someone out of it. So you could say, pleasantly surprised and relieved, that these men suddenly became prophets because they were innocent; the very gift of prophecy bore witness to their innocence. They came because they were sent, but they weren't going to do what that bad man had told them to. Let us believe that about them.Others were sent; the Spirit of God leaped on them too, and they too began to prophesy. Let's count them too with the first lot as being quite innocent. […]

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

HOMILIES ON 1 JOHN 7.6 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

For all who do not love God are strangers, are antichrists. And though they come to the churches, they cannot be numbered among the children of God. That fountain of life does not belong to them. To have baptism is possible even for a bad person; to prophesy is possible even for a bad person. We find that king Saul prophesied: he was persecuting holy David, yet he was filled with the spirit of prophecy and began to prophesy.

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

He also stripped himself of his garments, etc. These are clearly the acts of a furious and insane person, to strip oneself, fall down vexed, and lie naked on the ground all day and night. Yet, even through the wrath of such a person, the …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

From where the proverb emerged, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" The Jews of the Church have become a proverb, who, with a perverted mentality, make use of Holy Scriptures, which they do not believe or understand, while among the faithful attentive to sacred readings. …
6 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

And he stripped off his clothes also,.... Not all his clothes, but his upper garments, as men in such circumstances used to do, as the prophets sometimes did, and as it seems his messengers had done; according to Jarchi, R.

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Lay down - Hebrew. fell, down upon the earth; for his mind being in an extasy, he had not the use of his senses. God so ordering it, that David might have an opportunity to escape. Naked - That is, stript of his upper garments, as the word naked is often used; and it is here repeated to signify how long he lay in that posture.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past. Saul and Jonathan appear here in their different characters, with reference to David. Never was enemy so unreasonably cruel as Saul.

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

He stripped off his clothes - Threw off his royal robes or military dress, retaining only his tunic; and continued so all that day and all that night, uniting with the sons of the prophets in prayers, singing praises, and other religious exercises, which were unusual to kings and warriors; and this gave rise to the saying, Is Saul also among the prophets? By bringing both him and his men thus under a Divine influence, God prevented them from injuring the person of David.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

lay down naked--that is, divested of his armor and outer robes--in a state of trance. Thus God, in making the wrath of man to praise Him, preserved the lives of all the prophets, frustrated all the purposes of Saul, and preserved the life of His servant.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

Naked - i. e., without his robe and other outer garments, but only the shirt. Compare the marginal references. The whole history affords another instance of the protection of God vouchsafed to His servants, which forms so frequent a topic of the Psalms of David.

The words behind it

22 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.

  • וַיִּפְשַׁ֨טand he stripped off

    vaiyifshatH6584 →43 times

  • גַּם־also

    gam-H1571 →769 times

  • ה֜וּאhe

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • בְּגָדָ֗יוclothes his

    begadavH899 →217 times

  • וַיִּתְנַבֵּ֤אand he prophesied

    vaiyitnabe'H5012 →115 times

  • גַם־also

    gam-H1571 →769 times

  • הוּא֙he

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before

    lifneiH6440 →2123 times

  • שְׁמוּאֵ֔לSamuel

    shemuelH8050 →141 times

  • וַיִּפֹּ֣לand he fell down

    vaiyipolH5307 →435 times

  • עָרֹ֔םnaked

    ʾaromH6174 →

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַיּ֥וֹםthe day

    haiyomH3117 →2304 times

  • הַה֖וּא<the> that

    hahu'H1931 →1879 times

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH3605 →5413 times

  • הַלָּ֑יְלָהthe night

    halayelahH3915 →233 times

  • עַל־there-

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • כֵּן֙-fore

    kenH3651 →771 times

  • יֹֽאמְר֔וּpeople say

    yomeruH559 →5305 times

  • הֲגַ֥ם¿ also

    hagamH1571 →769 times

  • שָׁא֖וּל[is] Saul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • בַּנְּבִיאִֽם׃ פamong the prophets

    baneviimH5030 →314 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

    2 Samuel 6:20

    As soon as David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself…

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 6:16

      As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him…

    • 2 Samuel 6:14

      And David, wearing a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the LORD,

    • Judges 9:4

      So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.

  • Through

    Numbers 24:4

    the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open:

    it leads to

    • Revelation 1:17

      When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

  • Through

    Isaiah 20:2

    the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 3:4

      John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

    • Micah 1:8

      Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.

    • Ezekiel 24:17

      Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.”

    • Zechariah 13:4

      And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

This page draws on 11 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); Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 162A; Augustine of Hippo, HOMILIES ON 1 JOHN 7.6; Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory of Nyssa, AGAINST EUNOMIUS 3.4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 28.175-76.