1 Samuel 9:13

13 As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.”

1 Samuel 9:13 in Other Translations

13 As soon as ye be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him.

13 As soon as you enter the city you will find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat till he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately."

13 Hurry and catch him before he goes up there to eat. The guests won’t begin eating until he arrives to bless the food.”

13 As soon as you enter the town, you can catch him before he goes up to the shrine to eat. The people won't eat until he arrives, for he has to bless the sacrifice. Only then can everyone eat. So get going. You're sure to find him!"

13 If you go quickly, you can catch up with him before he goes to the high place to eat. The people won't eat until he comes because he must bless the sacrifice; after that, the guests can eat. Go up immediately-you can find him now."

1 Samuel 9:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 9:13

As soon as ye come into the city, ye shall straightway find
him
By which it seems that the house of Samuel was at that end of it at which they entered; and with which agrees what is observed in the preceding verse, that "he was before them", his house was in sight of them:

before he go up to the high place to eat;
intimating they would, if they made haste, come up to him before he got thither to sit down and eat with the people; for if they did not, they would not be able to see him and speak with him for some time, if on that day:

for the people will not eat until he come;
partly out of affection and veneration for him, being their chief magistrate, as well as seer or prophet, and partly for the reason following:

because he doth bless the sacrifice;
ask a blessing upon it, upon the meat of the peace offerings before it was eaten; for as this was usually done at every common meal, then much more at such a solemn festival as this. Jarchi gives us the form of blessing used on such an occasion,

``blessed art thou, O Lord our God, the King of the world, who hath sanctified us by his commandments, and hath commanded us to eat the sacrifice:''

and "afterwards they eat that be bidden"; for when a man offered his peace offerings, he not only had his family with him, but invited his friends, and the poor, and the fatherless, the strangers, and the Levites, to partake with him, see ( Deuteronomy 12:18 ) ( 14:29 ) ( 16:11 ) , the number of the guests at this time, see in ( 1 Samuel 9:22 ) .

Now therefore get ye up;
ascend the hill as fast as ye can:

for about this time ye shall find him;
that is, by the time they could get up the hill into the city they would find him coming out of his house to go to the sacrifice: or "as this day" ^F8; so sure as the day is, so sure shall ye find him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (Mwyhk) "invenietis cum tam certo quam certum est hunc diem esse", Drusius; so Jarchi.

1 Samuel 9:13 In-Context

11 As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the seer here?”

12 “He is,” they answered. “He’s ahead of you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place.

13 As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.”

14 They went up to the town, and as they were entering it, there was Samuel, coming toward them on his way up to the high place.

15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed this to Samuel:

Cross References

• 1. S Matthew 14:19; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Timothy 4:3-5