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1 Samuel 9:14

in 1 Samuel 9

So Saul and his servant went up toward the city, and as they were entering it, there was Samuel coming toward them on his way up to the high place.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they went up to the city; and as they came within the city, behold, Samuel came out toward them, to go up to the high place.

KJV

And they went up into the city: and when they were come into the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place.

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This verse in 1 Samuel 9

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

A sparrow falls not to the ground without our Father. Samuel, by an extraordinary revelation, is informed concerning Saul. He was a seer, and therefore must see this in a way peculiar to himself.

This site's exposition

there was Samuel coming toward them

on 1 Samuel 9:14-17

Samuel meets Saul because the LORD told him the day before, “At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin”. God gives the reason, “he will save them from the hand of the Philistines”, before Saul has said a word. The words “Here is the man of whom I spoke” set God's choice beside the crowd's choice at 10:24.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

And while they were walking in the midst of the city, Samuel appeared, etc. And the fame of Christ and his faithful ones began to spread gradually, being preached by John. And when all the people were baptized, and he himself had come to John …

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4 · Written before 604.

proposed

And because such a great man must be sought with eager devotion, there follows: "And they went up into the city. And as they were walking in the midst of the city, Samuel appeared, coming out to meet them, to go up to the high place." When we hear the praises of holy men, we ascend in the city, because we seek them where they descend, not where they are. But, as I said above, the place which preachers have for themselves is the secret contemplation of divinity, while the place for their subjects is preaching.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Gibeah of Saul was not twenty miles from Ramah where Samuel dwelt, and was near to Mizpeh where he often judged Israel, and yet, it seems, Saul had lived so very privately, and had taken so little notice of public affairs, that he had never seen Samuel, for when he met him (

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

And they went up into the city,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

GOD REVEALS TO SAMUEL SAUL'S COMING, AND HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE KINGDOM. Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before--The description of Saul, the time of his arrival, and the high office to which he was destined, had been secretly intimated to Samuel from heaven. The future king of Israel was to fight the battles of the Lord and protect His people.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

As you enter the city you… They prolonged their conversation in order to gaze upon Shaul's handsomeness. 7 Maseches Berachos 48b. The girls gave an extraordinarily long answer to a relatively simple question.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Samuel 9:13:1, 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

12 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.

  • וַֽיַּעֲל֖וּand they went up

    vaiyaaluH5927 →890 times

  • הָעִ֑ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • הֵ֗מָּהthey

    hemahH1992 →553 times

  • בָּאִים֙[were] coming

    baimH935 →2568 times

  • בְּת֣וֹךְin [the] midst of

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • הָעִ֔ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • וְהִנֵּ֤הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • שְׁמוּאֵל֙Samuel

    shemuelH8050 →141 times

  • יֹצֵ֣א[was] coming out

    yotze'H3318 →1067 times

  • לִקְרָאתָ֔םto meet them

    likratamH7122 →139 times

  • לַעֲל֖וֹתto go up

    laalotH5927 →890 times

  • הַבָּמָֽה׃ סthe high place

    habamahH1116 →102 times

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

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About 1 Samuel

Anointing of David by Samuel, Félix-Joseph Barrias, 1842, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris. Public domain.
Anointing of David by Samuel, Félix-Joseph Barrias, 1842, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris. Public domain.
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 9 →

This page draws on Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).

Read on in 1 Samuel 9 →