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And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
1 Samuel 22:2 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them. There were with him about four hundred men.
  • KJV And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
  • NKJV And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.
  • NASB Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.
  • NLT Then others began coming—men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented—until David was the captain of about 400 men.

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 distressed, indebted, and discontented gather to David, who becomes captain over about four hundred men.

Overview

David draws to himself the marginalized and desperate of Israel, becoming leader of some four hundred men. From these unlikely beginnings God forms the nucleus of David's future army and kingdom. This gathering of the lowly around their anointed leader pictures the way Christ gathers the weary and burdened to Himself (Matthew 11:28).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 20

  • Matt 11:28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
  • Ps 72:12–14For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
  • 1 Sam 30:22–24but all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered, except for each man’s wife and children. They may take them and go.”
  • 1 Sam 25:13And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men put on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
  • 1 Sam 30:6And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
  • 1 Sam 1:10In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.
  • 1 Sam 25:15–16Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them.
  • Matt 18:25–34Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.
  • 1 Sam 23:13Then David and his men, about six hundred strong, set out and departed from Keilah, moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he declined to go forth.
  • Judg 11:3So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.
  • 1 Sam 9:16“At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you are to anoint him leader over My people Israel; he will save them from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”
  • 2 Kgs 20:5“Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the house of the LORD.
  • Judg 18:25The Danites said to him, “Do not raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.”
  • 2 Sam 17:8He continued, “You know your father and his men. They are mighty men, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Moreover, your father is a man of war who will not spend the night with the troops.
  • Matt 9:12–13On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
  • Prov 31:6Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter in soul.
  • Heb 2:10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
  • 1 Chr 11:15–19Three of the thirty chief men went down to David, to the rock at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
  • Matt 11:12From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subject to violence, and the violent lay claim to it.
  • 2 Sam 5:2Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the LORD said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 1 Samuel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 1 Samuel 22:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 1 SamuelMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 22:2 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.