So Saul, accompanied by three thousand chosen men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
- KJV Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
- NKJV Then Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph.
- NASB So Saul set out and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, taking with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
- NLT So Saul took 3,000 of Israel’s elite troops and went to hunt him down in the wilderness of Ziph.
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 takes three thousand chosen men to hunt David in the wilderness of Ziph. The vast force shows his relentless obsession with destroying David.
Overview
Saul mobilizes an elite army of three thousand to seek out a single fugitive, revealing how completely his hostility has consumed him. The huge disproportion recalls David's earlier protest that the king was chasing a flea. The renewed campaign demonstrates Saul's hardened heart and frames the coming scene in which God will again deliver him into David's power.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Sam 24:2So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men in the region of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.
- 1 Sam 24:17and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.
- 1 Sam 23:23–25Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”
- Ps 140:4–9Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked. Keep me safe from men of violence who scheme to make me stumble.
- Ps 38:12Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.
- 1 Sam 13:2He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home.
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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 26:2 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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