Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?
Parallel translations
- KJV After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after 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, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
- 1 Sam 17:43The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods.
- 2 Sam 9:8He bowed down, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look at such a dead dog as I am?”
- Judg 8:1–3The men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you treated us this way, that you didn’t call us when you went to fight with Midian?” They rebuked him sharply.
- 2 Sam 16:9Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.”
- 2 Sam 3:8Then Abner was very angry about Ishbosheth’s words, and said, “Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show kindness to Saul’s house your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David; and yet you charge me today with a fault concerning this woman!
- 1 Kgs 21:7Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
- 2 Sam 6:20Then David returned to bless his household. Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious the king of Israel was today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the servants of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
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.