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1 Samuel 27:5

in 1 Samuel 27

Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be assigned a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And David said unto Achish, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?

KJV

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?

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This verse in 1 Samuel 27

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
David, with characteristic Oriental subtlety (compare 1Sa 21:2), suggests as a reason for leaving Gath that his presence was burdensome and expensive to the king. His real motive was to be more out of the way of observation and control, so as to act the part of an enemy of Saul, without really lifting up his hand against him and his own countrymen of Israel.

This site's exposition

some town in the country

on 1 Samuel 27:5-7

David asks Achish for some town in the country rather than lodging in the royal city, and Henry credits two motives, freedom to keep his own worship apart from Gath's idols and plain unwillingness to burden his host as an uninvited guest. Achish gives him Ziklag, a town Joshua had assigned to Judah that the Philistines had since held, and Henry reads the gift as a king of sense and honor restoring land that was never rightly his to keep. The town becomes the property of Judah's own kings from that day, and David dwells there a full year and four months before Saul's death ends the exile.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

But David said to Achis, "If I have found favor in your eyes," etc. The Lord said through his disciples to the Gentile people: "If the doctrine of truth, which I preach, and the life which I promise, are pleasing to you, let a humble …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

In a town of his own he might have the more free exercise of his religion, and keep his men better to it, and not have his righteous soul vexed, as it was at Gath, with the idolatries of the Philistines. (2.) As it was presented to Achish it was very modest.

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Give me a place - A prudent desire. Hereby David designed to preserve his people, both from the vices, which conversation with the Philistines would have exposed them to; and from that envy, and malice, which diversity of religion might have caused. With thee - Which is too great an honour for me, and too burdensome to thee, and may be an occasion of offense to thy people.
And David said unto Achish,.... After he had been some time with him: if I have now found grace in thine eyes; or was in favour, as he thought himself to be, by various instances of respect shown him: let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: he does not ask for a city or town, but a place in one of them, though one was given him; but of whom he asks it, it is not easy to say; though it is certain that Achish gave it him, 1Sa 27:

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

let them give me a place in some town in the country--It was a prudent arrangement on the part of David; for it would prevent him being an object of jealous suspicion, or of mischievous plots among the Philistines.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Why should thy servant dwell in the royal city - He seemed to intimate that two princely establishments in the same city were too many. Achish appears to have felt the propriety of his proposal, and therefore appoints him Ziklag.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Why should your servant remain… And be a burden to you. 2 Probably, Dovid did not want to live with idolaters and therefore asked in a diplomatic fashion, e.g., ‘Why should your servant be a burden to you,’ to settle in a separate city.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Samuel 27:5:1, 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

23 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.

  • וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • דָּוִ֜דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אָכִ֗ישׁAchish

    ʾakhishH397 →21 times

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • נָא֩please

    na'H4994 →404 times

  • מָצָ֨אתִיI have found

    matzatiH4672 →455 times

  • חֵ֤ןfavor

    chenH2580 →69 times

  • בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙in view your

    beeineikhaH5869 →887 times

  • יִתְּנוּ־let people give

    yitenu-H5414 →2011 times

  • לִ֣יto <the> me

    li

  • מָק֗וֹםa place

    makomH4725 →401 times

  • בְּאַחַ֛תin one of

    beachatH259 →971 times

  • עָרֵ֥י[the] cities of

    ʾareiH5892 →1090 times

  • הַשָּׂדֶ֖הthe field

    hasadehH7704 →334 times

  • וְאֵ֣שְׁבָהso I may dwell

    veeshevahH3427 →1079 times

  • שָּׁ֑םthere

    shamH8033 →834 times

  • וְלָ֨מָּהand <to> why?

    velamahH4100 →752 times

  • יֵשֵׁ֧בwill he dwell

    yeshevH3427 →1079 times

  • עַבְדְּךָ֛servant your

    ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times

  • בְּעִ֥ירin [the] city of

    beirH5892 →1090 times

  • הַמַּמְלָכָ֖ה<the> royalty

    hamamlakhahH4467 →117 times

  • עִמָּֽךְ׃with you

    ʾimakhH5973 →1050 times

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

Related verses

3 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

    2 Corinthians 6:17

    “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 52:11

      Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

    • Revelation 18:4

      Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.

    • 2 Corinthians 7:1

      Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

    • Psalms 1:1–3

      Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

    • Numbers 16:26

      And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

  • Through

    Genesis 46:34

    you are to say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock ever since our youth—both we and our fathers.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable…

    it leads to

    • Exodus 8:26

      But Moses replied, “It would not be right to do that, because the sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable…

    • Genesis 43:32

      They separately served Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, since that was detestable to them.

    • Genesis 46:32

      The men are shepherds; they raise livestock, and they have brought their flocks and herds and all that they own.’

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 27 →

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 (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Samuel 27 →