1 Samuel 25:13

13 David said to his men, "Each of you gird on his sword." So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about ¹four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred ²stayed with the baggage.

1 Samuel 25:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 25:13

And David said unto his men
Provoked to the last degree to have such a rude churlish answer returned to such a civil and humble message as he had sent:

gird you on every man his sword;
and prepare to march and chastise Nabal for his insolence:

and they girded on every man his sword;
in obedience to David, and in vindication of his honour and their own:

and David also girded on his sword;
in order to march at the head of them, fired with indignation at the affront given him:

and there went up after David about four hundred men;
out of the six hundred he had with him, ( 1 Samuel 23:13 ) ;

and two hundred abode by the stuff;
the baggage in their camp; the Targum is, they

``were left to watch the vessels;''

the things necessary for their use, for the dressing of their food, their bedding

1 Samuel 25:13 In-Context

11 "Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?"

12 So David's young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words.

13 David said to his men, "Each of you gird on his sword." So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.

14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he scorned them.

15 "Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 23:13
• 2. 1 Samuel 30:24