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1 Samuel 27:1

in 1 Samuel 27

David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.

KJV

And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.

This verse in 1 Samuel 27

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Cassiodorus

EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 55.1 · Written before 585.

on 1 Samuel 27:1-3

"When the Philistines held him in Gath"; this is recounted in the text of the book of Kings [Samuel]. David was terrorized by attacks of Saul and thought that he would be hidden in the city of Gath among the Philistines. But we have said …

This site's exposition

I shall now perish one day

on 1 Samuel 27:1-2

David's own verdict, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul, comes after Saul's spear missed him twice and a cave full of proof that the Lord had already delivered him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call the resolution wrong in more than one particular, and Blaikie reads the verse as the lapse of faith the chapter is built to expose, a shepherd who once trusted a sling now trusting Philistine borders instead. David crosses with six hundred men to Achish son of Maoch, the same Gath where he once feigned madness at chapter 21.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul - This was a very hasty conclusion: God had so often interposed in behalf of his life, that he was authorized to believe the reverse. God had hitherto confounded all Saul’s stratagems, and it was not at all likely that he would now abandon him: there was now no additional reason why he should withdraw from David his helping hand.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

David said in his heart, . . . there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines--This resolution of David's was, in every respect, wrong: (1) It was removing him from the place where the divine oracle intimated him to remain (1Sa 22:5);

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Now I might perish one day. Perhaps he will ambush me and suddenly attack me. 1 Dovid did not trust Shaul and was convinced that he was laying a trap for him by asking him to remain.—Metzudas Dovid
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Samuel 27:1:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

29 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 he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • דָּוִד֙David

    davidH1732999 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • לִבּ֔וֹheart his

    liboH3820595 times

  • עַתָּ֛הnow

    ʾatahH6258433 times

  • אֶסָּפֶ֥הI will be swept away

    ʾesapehH559519 times

  • יוֹם־a day

    yom-H31172304 times

  • אֶחָ֖דone

    ʾechadH259971 times

  • בְּיַד־by [the] hand of

    beyad-H30271618 times

  • שָׁא֑וּלSaul

    shaulH7586402 times

  • אֵֽין־not

    ʾein-H369789 times

  • לִ֨י[belongs] to <the> me

    li

  • ט֜וֹבgood

    tovH2896538 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH35884482 times

  • הִמָּלֵ֥טreally <escape>

    himaletH442295 times

  • אִמָּלֵ֣ט׀I will escape

    ʾimaletH442295 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • אֶ֣רֶץ[the] land of

    ʾeretzH7762504 times

  • פְּלִשְׁתִּ֗ים[the] Philistines

    pelishtimH6430287 times

  • וְנוֹאַ֨שׁand he will desist

    venoashH2976

  • מִמֶּ֤נִּיfrom me

    mimeniH44801188 times

  • שָׁאוּל֙Saul

    shaulH7586402 times

  • לְבַקְשֵׁ֤נִיto seek me

    levaksheniH1245225 times

  • עוֹד֙again

    ʾodH5750490 times

  • בְּכָל־in all

    bekholH36055413 times

  • גְּב֣וּל[the] territory of

    gevulH1366240 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • וְנִמְלַטְתִּ֖יand I will be delivered

    venimlatiH442295 times

  • מִיָּדֽוֹ׃from hand his

    miyadoH30271618 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

    Isaiah 51:12

    “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?

    it leads to

    • Psalms 118:6

      The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

    • 1 Peter 1:24

      For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

    • Isaiah 2:22

      Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

    • John 14:26–27

      But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

    • John 14:18

      I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 16:13

    So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and…

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 10:6

      Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be transformed into a different person.

    • Hebrews 1:9

      You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You above Your companions with the oil of joy.”

    • John 3:34

      For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

About 1 Samuel

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 55.1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).