1 Samuel 24:19

19 "For if a man ¹finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely *? May the LORD therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day.

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 He said to David, "You are more righteous than I; for you have dealt well with me, while I have dealt wickedly with you.

18 "You have declared today that you have done good to me, that the LORD delivered me into your hand and yet you did not kill me.

19 "For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely ? May the LORD therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day.

20 "Now, behold, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.

21 "So now swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father's household."

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 23:17

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "on a good road"