1 Samuel 24:19

19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe and sound? The LORD reward thee with good for that which thou hast done unto 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 said to David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast repaid me with good, whereas I have repaid thee with evil.

18 And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me; forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thy hand, thou didst not kill me.

19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe and sound? The LORD reward thee with good for that which thou hast done unto me this day.

20 And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be firm and stable in thy hand.

21 Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.