And you have shown this day how well you have dealt with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.
Parallel translations
- WEB You have declared today how you have dealt well with me, because when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me.
- KJV And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.
- NKJV And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.
- NASB You have declared today that you have done good to me, that the Lord handed me over to you and yet you did not kill me.
- NLT Yes, you have been amazingly kind to me today, for when the Lord put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn’t do it.
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
Saul recognizes that David spared him when God had given Saul into his hand. He concedes David acted with kindness he did not deserve.
Overview
Saul rehearses the very evidence David offered, admitting that the Lord delivered him into David's power and that David chose not to kill. His words confirm both God's providence and David's mercy. The confession underscores that David's restraint was not cowardice but deliberate righteousness, a kindness extended to an undeserving enemy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Sam 26:23May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
- 1 Sam 26:8Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”
- 1 Sam 23:12So David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” “They will,” said the LORD.
- 1 Sam 24:10Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’
- 1 Sam 23:7When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”
- Ps 31:8You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.
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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 24:18 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
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