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1 Samuel 27:8

in 1 Samuel 27

Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And David and his men went up, and made a raid upon the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those nations were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.

KJV

And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.

This verse in 1 Samuel 27

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
The Geshurites bordered upon the Philistines, and lived in the mountainous district which terminates the desert on the northeast (marginal reference). They were a different tribe, or, at least, a different branch of it, from the Geshurites who lived on the northeast border of Bashan, and were Arameans 2Sa 15:8. The Gezrites, or Gerzites, may be connected with those who gave their name to Mount Gerizim.

This site's exposition

the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites

on 1 Samuel 27:8-9

The raids strike the Geshurites, the Gezrites and the Amalekites, and the third name reaches back to the war Exodus 17 swore against Amalek and Deuteronomy 25 commanded blotted out, the same war chapter 15 left unfinished when Saul spared Agag and the best of the flock. Barnes places these tribes on the desert border toward Egypt, old inhabitants of the land rather than late arrivals, and distinguishes them from other clans bearing similar names elsewhere in the record. David leaves neither man nor woman alive and takes the sheep, oxen, asses and camels for spoil, and Adam Clarke calls it a complete extirpation of the people struck.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

And David and his men went up, etc. Upon the rock, Egypt sounds darkness. Therefore, the Church was growing through the steadfastness of Christ's disciples, and was rescuing souls from pagan rites, which, following the examples of not new but ancient men, had clung to …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The service paid itself, for they carried off abundance of spoil, which served for the subsistence of David's forces. Yet we cannot acquit him of dissimulation with Achish in the account he gave him of this expedition. (1.) David, it seems, was not willing that he should know the truth, and therefore spared none to carry tidings to Gath (

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

And David and his men went up,....

The words behind it

19 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.

  • וַיַּ֤עַלand he went up

    vaiyaalH5927890 times

  • דָּוִד֙David

    davidH1732999 times

  • וַֽאֲנָשָׁ֔יוand men his

    vaanashavH582566 times

  • וַֽיִּפְשְׁט֛וּand they made raids

    vaiyifshetuH658443 times

  • אֶל־against

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הַגְּשׁוּרִ֥יthe Geshurite[s]

    hageshuriH1651

  • וְהַגִּזְרִ֖יand the Gizrite[s]

    vehagirziH1511

  • וְהָעֲמָלֵקִ֑יand the Amalekite[s]

    vehaamalkiH600312 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH35884482 times

  • הֵ֜נָּהthey

    henahH2007

  • יֹשְׁב֤וֹת[were] dwelling

    yoshevotH34271079 times

  • הָאָ֙רֶץ֙the land

    haaretzH7762504 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • מֵֽעוֹלָ֔ם[is] from antiquity

    meolamH5769438 times

  • בּוֹאֲךָ֥coming you

    boakhaH9352568 times

  • שׁ֖וּרָהShur towards

    shurahH7793

  • וְעַד־and to

    vead-H57041261 times

  • אֶ֥רֶץ[the] land of

    ʾeretzH7762504 times

  • מִצְרָֽיִם׃Egypt

    mitzrayimH4714641 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

    Joshua 16:10

    But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 9:16

      Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Judges 1:29

      Ephraim also failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer; so the Canaanites continued to dwell among them in Gezer.

    • Deuteronomy 7:1–2

      When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations…

    • Joshua 17:13

      However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they failed to drive them out completely.

    • 1 Kings 9:21

      their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

  • Through

    Joshua 13:2

    This is the land that remains:

    it leads to

    • Joshua 13:11

      also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah—

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Samuel 3:3

      his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Judges 1:29

    Ephraim also failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer; so the Canaanites continued to dwell among them in Gezer.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 16:10

      But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.

About 1 Samuel

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Bede, Commentary on Samuel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.