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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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.
- 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 26:23Yahweh will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because Yahweh delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn’t stretch out my hand against Yahweh’s anointed.
- 1 Sam 26:8Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered up your enemy into your hand today. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.”
- 1 Sam 23:12Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” Yahweh said, “They will deliver you up.”
- 1 Sam 24:10Behold, today your eyes have seen how Yahweh had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you; but I spared you; and I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my lord; for he is Yahweh’s anointed.
- 1 Sam 23:7Saul was told that David had come to Keilah. Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.”
- Ps 31:8You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 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
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.