1 Samuel 24:19

19 If a man comes across his hater, will he let him get away safe? so may you be rewarded by the Lord for what you have done for me today.

1 Samuel 24:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 24:19

For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away?
&c.] Or "in a good way" ^F5, in peace and safety, without doing him any hurt; this is not usual among men, and yet this was the present case; David had found his enemy Saul, which Saul tacitly owns, and yet had let him go well away from him, without hurting him:

wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me
this day;
he does not promise to reward him himself, but prays the Lord to reward him; and had he been sincere in it, he could not have done better for him. Some connect the former clause with this, after this manner, "if a man find his enemy, and let him go away, the Lord will reward him, the Lord reward thee" so the Syriac and Arabic versions.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (hbwj Krdb) "in via bona", Pagninus, Montanus.

1 Samuel 24:19 In-Context

17 And he said to David, You are right and I am wrong: for you have given me back good, but I have given you evil.

18 And you have made clear to me how good you have been to me today: because, when the Lord gave me up into your hands, you did not put me to death.

19 If a man comes across his hater, will he let him get away safe? so may you be rewarded by the Lord for what you have done for me today.

20 And now I am certain that you will be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be made strong under your authority.

21 So give me your oath by the Lord, that you will not put an end to my seed after me or let my name be cut off from my father's family.