And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
Parallel translations
- WEB David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn’t deliver him into his hand.
- BSB And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.
- NKJV And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
- NASB David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul searched for him every day, but God did not hand him over to him.
- NLT David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn’t let Saul find him.
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
David hides in the wilderness strongholds, and though Saul hunts him daily, God does not let him be caught.
Overview
David takes refuge in the rugged wilderness of Ziph while Saul searches relentlessly. The narrator's key statement, God did not deliver him into his hand, reveals the LORD's sovereign protection over David. Behind the human drama stands God's unbreakable purpose to bring His anointed to the throne.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 54:3–4For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.
- Ps 32:7Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
- Josh 15:24Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth,
- Josh 15:55Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, and Juttah,
- Rom 8:31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
- 2 Tim 3:11Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
- Jer 36:26But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.
- Ps 37:32–33The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
- Ps 11:1–3In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
- Prov 4:16For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
- 2 Tim 4:17–18Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
- 1 Sam 27:1And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.
- Prov 1:16For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
- 1 Sam 23:7And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 23:14 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
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.