1 Samuel 27:10
in 1 Samuel 27who would ask him, “What have you raided today?” And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Achish said, Against whom have ye made a raid to-day? And David said, Against the South of Judah, and against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites.
KJV
And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.
⋯
This verse in 1 Samuel 27
Commentary
8 notes on this verseWhither have ye made a road today? - He had probably been in the habit of making predatory excursions. This seems to be implied in the question of Achish.
This site's exposition
Whither have ye made a road to day
on 1 Samuel 27:10-12
Achish asks Whither have ye made a road to day, and David names Judah, the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites, all of them Achish's own allies rather than the tribes actually struck. Wesley calls the answer ambiguous and beneath David's usual candor, and reads his later prayer at Psalm 119:29, remove from me the way of lying, as David's own reflection on this deceit; the narrative itself passes no verdict and simply records that Achish believed him. David spares no one who might carry the true report back to Gath, and Achish concludes that David has made his own people utterly abhor him and so will serve the Philistines forever, a trust the coming chapters will show was entirely misplaced.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
But Achis said to him: Against whom have you made a raid today? etc. Although he seems to deceive in the literal sense, who, rising against the Philistines, devastating the province not far from them, said he had made a raid against the one who …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
David - These and the following words are ambiguous, and contrary to that simplicity which became David, both as a prince, and as an eminent professor of the true religion. The fidelity of Achish to him, and the confidence he put in him, aggravates his sin in thus deceiving him, which David seems penitently to reflect on, when he prays, Remove from me the way of lying.
4 And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him. 5 And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
And Achish said, whither have ye made a road today?....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites--Jerahmeel was the great-grandson of Judah, and his posterity occupied the southern portion of that tribal domain. the south of the Kenites--the posterity of Jethro, who occupied the south of Judah (Jud 1:16;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The Jerahmeelites - i. e. the descendants of Jerahmeel, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah (marginal references). They were therefore a portion of the “south of Judah.” The Kenites - See Num 24:21 note; Num 4:11; and for their near neighborhood to Amalek, see 1Sa 15:6.
The words behind it
16 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 |
| אָכִ֔ישׁ | ʾakhish | Achish | H397 → | 21 times |
| אַל־ | ʾal- | against [where] | H413 → | 5510 times |
| פְּשַׁטְתֶּ֖ם | peshatem | did you make a raid | H6584 → | 43 times |
| הַיּ֑וֹם | haiyom | this day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| דָּוִ֗ד | david | David | H1732 → | 999 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נֶ֤גֶב | negev | [the] Negev of | H5045 → | 112 times |
| יְהוּדָה֙ | yehudah | Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| וְעַל־ | veal- | and on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נֶ֣גֶב | negev | [the] Negev of | H5045 → | 112 times |
| הַיַּרְחְמְאֵלִ֔י | haiyarchemeeli | the Jerahmeelite[s] | H3397 → | |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and against | H413 → | 5510 times |
| נֶ֖גֶב | negev | [the] Negev of | H5045 → | 112 times |
| הַקֵּינִֽי׃ | hakeini | the Kenite[s] | H7017 → | 12 times |
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אָכִ֔ישׁAchish
ʾakhishH397 →21 times
אַל־against [where]
ʾal-H413 →5510 times
פְּשַׁטְתֶּ֖םdid you make a raid
peshatemH6584 →43 times
הַיּ֑וֹםthis day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
דָּוִ֗דDavid
davidH1732 →999 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
נֶ֤גֶב[the] Negev of
negevH5045 →112 times
יְהוּדָה֙Judah
yehudahH3063 →819 times
וְעַל־and on
veal-H5921 →5755 times
נֶ֣גֶב[the] Negev of
negevH5045 →112 times
הַיַּרְחְמְאֵלִ֔יthe Jerahmeelite[s]
haiyarchemeeliH3397 →
וְאֶל־and against
veel-H413 →5510 times
נֶ֖גֶב[the] Negev of
negevH5045 →112 times
הַקֵּינִֽי׃the Kenite[s]
hakeiniH7017 →12 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
Judges 1:16Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live…
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 15:6
And he warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, go on and get away from the Amalekites. Otherwise I will sweep you away…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 10:29–32
Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of Moses’ father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us,…
- Judges 4:11
Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.
- Deuteronomy 34:3
the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho (the City of Palms) all the way to Zoar.
- Numbers 21:1
When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some prisoners.
- 1 Samuel 15:6
Through
1 Samuel 30:29to those in Racal and in the cities of the Jerahmeelites and Kenites;
it leads to
- Judges 1:16
Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Judges 1:16
Through
Judges 4:11Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.
it leads to
- Joshua 19:33
Their border started at Heleph and the great tree of Zaanannim, passing Adami-nekeb and Jabneel as far as Lakkum and ending at the Jordan.
- Numbers 10:29
Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of Moses’ father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us,…
- Joshua 19:33
About 1 Samuel
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.