1 Samuel 24:1-10

Context

David Spares Saul’s Life

24:1 (24:2) When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him, “Look, David is in the desert of En Gedi.” 24:2 So Saul took three thousand select men from all Israel and went to find¹ David and his men in the region of² the rocks of the mountain goats.³ 24:3 He came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave. Saul went into it to relieve himself.⁴

Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave. 24:4 David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the Lord said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him whatever seems appropriate to you.’”⁵ So David got up and quietly cut off an edge of Saul’s robe. 24:5 Afterward David’s conscience bothered him⁶ because he had cut off an edge of Saul’s robe. 24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one,⁷ by extending my hand against him. After all,⁸ he is the Lord’s chosen one.”⁹ 24:7 David restrained his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and started down¹⁰ the road.

24:8 Afterward David got up and went out of the cave. He called out after Saul, “My lord, O king!” When Saul looked behind him, David kneeled down and bowed with his face to the ground. 24:9 David said to Saul, “Why do you pay attention when men say, ‘David is seeking to do you harm’? 24:10 Today your own eyes see how the Lord delivered you – this very day – into my hands in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I had pity¹¹ on you and said, ‘I will not extend my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s chosen one.’¹²

[24:2] ¹tn Heb “to search [for].”

[24:2] ²tn Heb “upon the face of.”

[24:2] ³tn Or “the region of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats,” if this expression is understood as a place name (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV).

[24:3] ⁴tn Heb “to cover his feet,” an idiom (euphemism) for relieving oneself (cf. NAB “to ease nature”).

[24:4] ⁵tn Heb “is good in your eyes.”

[24:5] ⁶tn Heb “the heart of David struck him.”

[24:6] ⁷tn Heb “anointed.”

[24:6] ⁸tn Or “for.”

[24:6] ⁹tn Heb “anointed.”

[24:7] ¹⁰tn Heb “went on.”

[24:10] ¹¹tn Heb “it had pity,” apparently with the understood subject being “my eye,” in accordance with a common expression.

[24:10] ¹²tn Heb “anointed.”