Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?
Parallel translations
- WEB Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?
- KJV After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
- NKJV After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?
- NASB After whom has the king of Israel gone out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, a single flea?
- NLT Who is the king of Israel trying to catch anyway? Should he spend his time chasing one who is as worthless as a dead dog or a single flea?
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 calls himself a dead dog and a flea, asking why the king pursues someone so insignificant. He humbles himself to expose how needless Saul's hostility is.
Overview
With vivid self-deprecation, David portrays himself as no real threat to Saul, a mere flea unworthy of a king's army. The imagery underscores both David's humility and the absurd disproportion of Saul's campaign against him. Such lowliness, far from weakness, reflects faith that God, not self-assertion, will establish him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Sam 26:20So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
- 1 Sam 17:43“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
- 2 Sam 9:8Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”
- Judg 8:1–3Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently.
- 2 Sam 16:9Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”
- 2 Sam 3:8Abner was furious over Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I have been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends. I have not delivered you into the hand of David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!
- 1 Kgs 21:7But his wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you not reign over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful, for I will get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
- 2 Sam 6:20As soon as David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.”
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 24:14 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.