1 Samuel 18:8

8 Et Saül fut fort irrité, et cette parole lui déplut; elles ont donné, dit-il, dix mille hommes à David, et à moi mille; il ne lui manque donc plus que le royaume!

1 Samuel 18:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 18:8

And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him
Partly because they called him plain Saul, and not King Saul; did not give him his royal title, which might serve to strengthen his suspicion, after suggested; and chiefly because they attributed a greater number of slain to David than to him, as follows:

and he said, they have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me
they ascribed [but] thousands;
and so had given more honour to an inferior officer than to the commander-in-chief, more to a subject than to a sovereign:

and [what can] he have more but the kingdom?
there is nothing left out of their song, and nothing remains to be given him but that; some think that Saul knew, by the prudent behaviour of David, and the favour he was in with God and men, and by these commendations of the women, that the kingdom would be his; and that the words of Samuel were true, and would be confirmed, that the kingdom would be rent from him, and given to his neighbour better than he. This clause, with ( 1 Samuel 18:9-11 ) , is left out of the Greek version, according to the Vatican copy.

1 Samuel 18:8 In-Context

6 Or, comme ils rentraient, lorsque David revenait de la défaite du Philistin, il sortit des femmes de toutes les villes d'Israël, chantant et dansant, au-devant du roi Saül, avec des tambours, avec des cris de joie, et avec des triangles;
7 Et les femmes qui jouaient des instruments se répondaient les unes aux autres, et disaient: Saül a frappé ses mille, et David ses dix mille.
8 Et Saül fut fort irrité, et cette parole lui déplut; elles ont donné, dit-il, dix mille hommes à David, et à moi mille; il ne lui manque donc plus que le royaume!
9 Depuis ce jour-là, Saül voyait David de mauvais œil.
10 Et il arriva, le lendemain, que le mauvais esprit, envoyé de Dieu, saisit Saül, et il avait des transports au milieu de la maison. Or David jouait de sa main sur la harpe, comme les autres jours, et Saül avait une lance à la main;
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.