After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
Parallel translations
- WEB Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?
- BSB Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? 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 26:20Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
- 1 Sam 17:43And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
- 2 Sam 9:8And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
- Judg 8:1–3And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply.
- 2 Sam 16:9Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.
- 2 Sam 3:8Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, Am I a dog’s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?
- 1 Kgs 21:7And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
- 2 Sam 6:20Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!
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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.