And David said unto him, canst thou me down to this company?
&c.] That is, show him, or direct him where they were:
and he said, swear unto me by God;
the Targum is, by the Word of the Lord; but it is highly probable this man had no notion of Jehovah, and his Word, or of the true God; only that there was a God, and that an oath taken by him was solemn, sacred, and inviolable, and might be trusted to and depended on:
that thou wilt neither kill me;
for he found now he was in the hands of those whose city he had been concerned in plundering and burning, and so might fear his life was in danger:
nor deliver me into the hands of my master;
who had been a cruel one to him, and therefore would gladly be clear of him; and if he had nothing else against him, his late usage of him was sufficient to raise his resentment of him:
and I will bring thee down to this company;
or show him where they were, having heard them say where they would stop, and make merry, and divide their spoil; and perhaps his master might tell him they would be at such a place at such a time, where, if he was better, he might come to them; the Vulgate Latin version adds, "and David swore to him": which, though not expressed in the original text, was no doubt done by him; and the Syriac and Arabic versions begin ( 1 Samuel 30:16 ) thus, "when David had sworn to him".