1 Samuel 24:2

2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.

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1 Samuel 24:2 in Other Translations

KJV

2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.

ESV

2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats' Rocks.

NLT

2 So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats.

MSG

2 Saul took three companies - the best he could find in all Israel - and set out in search of David and his men in the region of Wild Goat Rocks.

CSB

2 So Saul took 3,000 of Israel's choice men and went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

1 Samuel 24:2 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 24:2

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel,
&c.] Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines:

and went to seek David, and his men, upon the rocks of the wild goats;
which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, full of precipices, and so prominent, that to travellers they seemed as if they would fall into the adjacent valleys, that it even struck terror into them to look at them ^F24; called the rocks of wild goats, because these creatures, called from hence "rupicaprae", or rock goats, see ( Job 39:1 ) ; delighted to be there; and are, as Pliny ^F25 says, of such prodigious swiftness, that they will leap from mountain to mountain, and back again at pleasure; these mountains David and his men chose for safety, and the height and craggedness of them did not deter Saul and his men from seeking him there.

FOOTNOTES:

F24 Adrichom Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 47. & Brocard. in ib.
F25 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 53.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

1 Samuel 24:2 In-Context

1 After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.”

2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.

3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave.

4 The men said, “This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ ” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe.