1 Samuel 23:20

20 So whenever you're ready to come down, we'd count it an honor to hand him over to the king."

1 Samuel 23:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 23:20

Now therefore, O king, come down
From Gibeah to Ziph, and the wilderness of it, where David was:

according to all the desires of thy soul to come down;
to seize such a prey which he was greatly desirous of, and of nothing more so than of that according to Abarbinel, the sense is, that the thing was ready in whatever way he should desire it; if he chose to come down himself, and lay hold on him, they invite him to come down; but if he did not choose to come down himself, they would seize him, and bring him to him, and deliver him up into his hand, and so he would be under no necessity of going down after him:

and our part [shall be] to deliver him into the king's hand;
this we will take upon us to do, and save the king the trouble of coming down.

1 Samuel 23:20 In-Context

18 Then the two of them made a covenant before God. David stayed at Horesh and Jonathan went home.
19 Some Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, "Did you know that David is hiding out near us in the caves and canyons of Horesh? Right now he's at Hakilah Hill just south of Jeshimon
20 So whenever you're ready to come down, we'd count it an honor to hand him over to the king."
21 Saul said, "God bless you for thinking about me
22 Now go back and check everything out. Learn his routines. Observe his movements - where he goes, who he's with. He's very shrewd, you know.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.