When Saul sent the messengers to seize David, Michal said, “He is ill.”
Parallel translations
- WEB When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
- KJV And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.
- NKJV So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
- NASB When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
- NLT When the troops came to arrest David, she told them he was sick and couldn’t get out of bed.
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
When Saul's messengers come to seize David, Michal claims he is sick.
Overview
Michal buys David time with the excuse that he is ill. Her ruse, like other Old Testament deceptions used to protect the innocent from murderers, is reported as part of the account of David's escape. The narrative's interest is God's faithful deliverance of his anointed rather than an endorsement of every detail of human conduct.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Josh 2:5At dusk, when the gate was about to close, the men went out, and I do not know which way they went. Pursue them quickly, and you may catch them!”
- 2 Sam 16:17–19“Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”
- 2 Sam 17:20When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” “They have crossed over the brook,” she replied. The men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.
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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 19:14 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
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