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1 Samuel 26:4

in 1 Samuel 26

David sent out spies to verify that Saul had arrived.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come of a certainty.

KJV

David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed.

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This verse in 1 Samuel 26

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

David abode in the wilderness

on 1 Samuel 26:3-5

David sends spies rather than act on a report alone, then goes himself to see the ground before he decides anything. He finds Saul asleep inside the ring of wagons that formed the camp's night defense, Abner the captain lying at his side, and the whole army pitched around them. The picture sets up the chapter's question: two men lie within reach of each other, and only one of them will ask what he may lawfully do about it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

); for he would not believe that Saul would deal so basely with him till he had the utmost evidence of it. (2.) He observed with his own eyes how Saul was encamped,

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

David therefore sent out spies,.... To observe if he was coming or come, and where he was, that he might not be surprised by him; for though David knew the Lord was and would be his protection, he thought proper to be upon his guard, and to make use of means for his safety: and understood that Saul was come in very deed; that he was most certainly come, and come to some certain place; which he himself went to reconnoitre, as in 1Sa 26:5.

The words behind it

9 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.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֥חand he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times

  • דָּוִ֖דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • מְרַגְּלִ֑יםspies

    meragelimH7270 →

  • וַיֵּ֕דַעand he knew

    vaiyeda'H3045 →945 times

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • בָ֥אhe had come

    va'H935 →2568 times

  • שָׁא֖וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • נָכֽוֹן׃a certain [thing]

    nakhonH3559 →217 times

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

Related verses

4 in all, six open

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

    Matthew 10:16

    Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

    it leads to

    • Philippians 2:15

      so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world

    • Luke 10:3

      Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

    • 1 Corinthians 14:20

      Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

    • Colossians 4:5

      Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.

    • Ephesians 5:15–17

      Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

  • Through

    Joshua 2:1

    Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 11:31

      By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

    • James 2:25

      In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?

    • Matthew 1:5

      Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

About 1 Samuel

David Slays Goliath, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Slays Goliath, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 26 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Samuel 26 →