even though they had all found honeycomb on the ground in the forest.
Parallel translations
- WEB All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground.
- KJV And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.
- BSB Then all the troops entered the forest, and there was honey on the ground.
- NKJV Now all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was honey on the ground.
- NASB All the people of the land entered the forest, and there was honey on the ground.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The exhausted army comes into a forest where honey lies plentiful on the ground, ready food they cannot eat.
Overview
God's provision of honey stands available before the famished soldiers, yet Saul's oath bars them from it. The scene sets up the tension between God's gracious provision and a leader's rash restriction. It quietly underscores how Saul's vow works against the good of God's people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Deut 9:28lest the land you brought us out from say, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’
- Exod 3:8I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
- Num 13:27They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
- Matt 3:4–5Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 14:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.