1 Samuel 24:19

19 and that a man doth find his enemy, and hath sent him away in a good manner; and Jehovah doth repay thee good for that which thou didst 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 And he saith unto David, `More righteous thou [art] than I; for thou hast done me good, and I have done thee evil;

18 and thou hast declared to-day how that thou hast done good with me, how that Jehovah shut me up into thy hand, and thou didst not slay me,

19 and that a man doth find his enemy, and hath sent him away in a good manner; and Jehovah doth repay thee good for that which thou didst to me this day.

20 `And, now, lo, I have known that thou dost certainly reign, and the kingdom of Israel hath stood in thy hand;

21 and, now, swear to me by Jehovah -- thou dost not cut off my seed after me, nor dost thou destroy my name from the house of my father.'