1 Samuel 23:21
in 1 Samuel 23“May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Saul said, Blessed be ye of Jehovah; for ye have had compassion on me.
KJV
And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord; for ye have compassion on me.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 23
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAnd Saul said, blessed be ye of the Lord,.... He highly commends them for the offer they made to him, blesses God for them, and desires the blessing of God upon them for it: for ye have compassion on me; pitied him on account of the troubles he met with from his son-in-law, were sorry for him, and sympathized with him, which others did not, of which he complained, 1Sa 22:8.
This site's exposition
Doth not David hide himself with us
on 1 Samuel 23:19-21
The Ziphites are David's own tribesmen of Judah, and they volunteer his location to Saul unasked, before any threat or reward is offered; Matthew Henry contrasts them with Judas, who at least named a price. Psalm 54 carries a title naming this very report, though this database stores the Psalms without their Hebrew titles, so the link cannot be shown from the floor by query even though the title is canonical text in the Hebrew Bible. Saul's answer, blessed be ye of the Lord, puts the covenant name of God in the mouth of a king thanking men for betraying his own anointed, two verses after Jonathan strengthened that same anointed's hand in the same God.
This site's exposition
May you be blessed by the LORD
Saul thanks the Ziphites for compassion, the concern he complained at 22:8 that none of his own servants had shown him, as Gill notes. Henry says his envy made him an object of pity.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
And Saul said: Blessed be you of the Lord, etc. They promise the blessing of the Lord to themselves and their Jewish supporters when, having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, they either pursue the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
): Blessed be you of the Lord (so near is God to his mouth, though far from his heart), for you have compassion on me. It seems he looked upon himself as a miserable man and an object of pity; his own envy and ill-nature made him so, otherwise he might have been easy and have needed no man's compassion.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
No wonder, then, that the Ziphites saw David and his men passing to and fro in the mountains of the wilderness. Spying him at a distance when he ventured to show himself on the hill of Hachilah, "on the right hand of the wilderness," that is, the south side of Ziph, they sent in haste to Saul, to tell him of the lurking place of his enemy [VAN DE VELDE].
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שָׁא֔וּל | shaul | Saul | H7586 → | 402 times |
| בְּרוּכִ֥ים | berukhim | [be] blessed | H1288 → | 330 times |
| אַתֶּ֖ם | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| לַֽיהוָ֑ה | layahweh | by Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| חֲמַלְתֶּ֖ם | chamaltem | you have had compassion | H2550 → | 41 times |
| עָלָֽי׃ | ʾalai | on me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
שָׁא֔וּלSaul
shaulH7586 →402 times
בְּרוּכִ֥ים[be] blessed
berukhimH1288 →330 times
אַתֶּ֖םyou
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
לַֽיהוָ֑הby Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
חֲמַלְתֶּ֖םyou have had compassion
chamaltemH2550 →41 times
עָלָֽי׃on me
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Micah 3:11Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 6:13
“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
- Isaiah 1:23
Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.
- Micah 3:5
This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their…
- Jeremiah 7:4
Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
- Titus 1:11
who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not.
- Jeremiah 6:13
Through
Psalms 10:3For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
it leads to
- Psalms 94:4
They pour out arrogant words; all workers of iniquity boast.
- Psalms 94:4
Through
Isaiah 66:5You who tremble at His word, hear the word of the LORD: “Your brothers who hate you and exclude you because of My name have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified that we may…
it leads to
- John 15:18–20
If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
- Isaiah 66:2
Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles…
- John 15:18–20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.