1 Samuel 23:22

22 Allez donc, faites encore attention; sachez et reconnaissez le lieu où il a posé son pied, et qui l'y a vu; car on m'a dit qu'il est fort rusé.

1 Samuel 23:22 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 23:22

Go, I pray you, prepare yet
That is, go home, return to their habitations, and get things in a greater readiness for him; inquire more diligently after David, get more intelligence of him, and inform themselves more exactly about him:

and know and see his place where his haunt is;
or "foot" F19 is, where that steps and walks most frequently, not only get knowledge of it by information, but if they could get sight of it with their own eyes, that they might describe it more exactly:

[and] who hath seen him there;
not only seen the place, but him in the place, and that often, that it may be certain it is the place he usually resorts to:

for it is told me [that] he dealeth very subtilly;
sometimes he is seen in one place, and sometimes in another; he is here today, and elsewhere tomorrow; and by such crafty methods it is not easy to know where the place is, and where to be found; this Saul had information of from some, who knew the methods David took to keep it unknown where it was; or "it says to me"; my heart says so to me, as R. Isaiah interprets it; my mind suggests this to me, knowing the man, that he uses such wiles as these: or "he said to me", so Kimchi; when he was with me, and we were intimate, when I used to ask him how he smote the Philistines, so and so, and preserved himself from them; his answer was, "that he dealt very subtilly", he used a good deal of craftiness; and so I imagine he does now.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 (wlgr) "pes ejus", Pagninus, Montanus.

1 Samuel 23:22 In-Context

20 Maintenant donc, ô roi, si tu souhaites de descendre, descends et ce sera à nous de le livrer entre les mains du roi.
21 Et Saül dit: Que l'Éternel vous bénisse, de ce que vous avez eu pitié de moi
22 Allez donc, faites encore attention; sachez et reconnaissez le lieu où il a posé son pied, et qui l'y a vu; car on m'a dit qu'il est fort rusé.
23 Reconnaissez donc et sachez quelle est, de toutes les retraites, celle où il est caché; puis revenez vers moi, quand vous en serez assurés, et j'irai avec vous. Et s'il est dans le pays, je le chercherai soigneusement dans tous les milliers de Juda.
24 Ils se levèrent donc et s'en allèrent à Ziph, devant Saül; mais David et ses gens étaient au désert de Maon, dans la plaine, au midi de la région désolée.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.