1 Samuel 14:9

9 if they speak thus to us, Dwell ye (Stay ye), till we come to you; stand we in our place, and go we not up to them.

1 Samuel 14:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:9

If they say thus unto us
By this and what follows he gives his man a sign by which both might know how they should conduct themselves in this expedition, and what would be the issue, whether they should succeed or not: should they say,

tarry until we come to you;
this, as it would express boldness in the men of the garrison, and show that they were ready to come out and fight, would portend evil, and then what they had to do was to be upon the defensive:

then we will stand still in our place;
wait till they came to them, and make the best defence of themselves as they could, showing as little fear as possible, and not attempting to retreat and flee:

and will not go up unto them;
neither go backwards nor forwards; not backward, which would show fear; nor forward, to expose themselves to too much danger from the garrison, they appearing to be bold and intrepid.

1 Samuel 14:9 In-Context

7 And his squire said to him, Do thou all things that please thy soul; go whither thou covetest, I shall be with thee, wherever thou wilt.

8 And Jonathan said, Lo! we pass (over) to these men; and when we appear to them,

9 if they speak thus to us, Dwell ye (Stay ye), till we come to you; stand we in our place, and go we not up to them.

10 And if they say, Go ye up to us; go we up to them, for the Lord hath betaken them into our hands; this shall be a sign to us. (But if they say, Come ye up to us; then we shall go up to them, for the Lord hath delivered them into our hands; this shall be a sign to us.)

11 Therefore ever either appeared to the station of Philistines (And so they both appeared before the Philistines? station); and the Philistines said, Lo! the Hebrews go out of [the] caves, in which they were hid.