1 Samuel 20:14

And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die,

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

▾

KJV

And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not:

ASV

And thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the lovingkindness of Jehovah, that I die not;

YLT

and not only while I am alive dost thou do with me the kindness of Jehovah, and I die not,

DBT

And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of Jehovah, that I die not,

⋯

Commentary voices

loading…

Voices3

On this verse

"If I live, you will show me the kindness of the Lord, etc." [1 Samuel 20:14] This, said by Jonathan to David, whom he lamented was being harassed by the unjust persecutions of his father: If I live, you will show me the kindness of …

Bede· Questions on the Book of Kings #5, 735patristic

Related commentary

And thou shalt not only, while yet I live, show me the kindness of the Lord,....

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Show me the kindness of the Lord - When thou comest to the kingdom, if I am alive, thou shalt show kindness to me, and thou shalt continue that kindness to my family after me.

Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832evangelical

Voices on this verse

loading…

Rabbinic commentary

How the Hebraic tradition has read this verse — and Marcus Brown’s own reading of it.

Cross-references

8 linked verses

The verses this one reaches8

2 Samuel 9:3
So the king asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family to whom I can show the kindness of God?” Ziba answered, “There is still Jonathan’s son, who is lame in both feet.”
Genesis 31:44
Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.”
1 Samuel 20:23
And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
2 Samuel 9:1
Then David asked, “Is there anyone left from the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?”
Genesis 40:14
But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison.
Ephesians 5:1–2
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
1 Samuel 24:21
So now, swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s house.”
Joshua 2:12
Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD that you will indeed show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign

Cross-references

loading…

The quotation web

loading…

Around this verse

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

David and Jonathan — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866) — public domain

1 Samuel — The transition from judges to monarchy. Samuel rises as prophet-judge; Israel demands a king; Saul rises and is rejected; David is anointed in obscurity and flees across the wilderness. Three lives overlapping — the prophetic-judicial-royal handoff.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Traditionally Samuel (with additions after his death by Nathan and Gad — cf. 1 Chr 29:29)
Date: Events c. 1050–1010 BC; compilation during the early monarchy

The walk5

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
2 Samuel 9:3
So the king asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family to whom I can show the kindness of God?” Ziba answered, “There is still Jonathan’s son, who is lame in both feet.”
leads to
- 2 Samuel 4:4
  And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up…
- Titus 3:3–4
  For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Deuteronomy 10:15
  Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day.
- Luke 6:36
  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
- 1 Samuel 20:14–17
  And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die,

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

loading…

Continue: 1 Samuel 20 →