1 Samuel 19:18-24

18 Forsooth David fled, and was saved; and he came to Samuel into Ramah, and told to him all things which Saul had done to him; and he and Samuel went, and dwelled in Naioth.
19 And it was told to Saul of men (And some men told this to Saul), saying to him, Lo! David is in Naioth in Ramah.
20 Therefore Saul sent men-slayers, that they should ravish (from) thence David; and when they had seen the company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing over them, the Spirit of the Lord was made in them, and they also began to prophesy. (And so Saul sent some men-killers to take hold of David there; and when they had seen the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing at their head, the Spirit of the Lord was made upon them, and they also began to prophesy.)
21 And when this was told to Saul, he sent also other messengers; soothly and they prophesied. And again Saul sent the third messengers, and they prophesied. (And when this was told to Saul, he sent other men; and they also prophesied. And a third time Saul sent even more men, and they also prophesied.)
22 And Saul was wroth with irefulness; and he also went into Ramah (and then he went to Ramah), and he came unto the great cistern which is in Sechu, and he asked, and said, In what place be Samuel and David? And it was said to him, Lo! they be in Naioth in Ramah.
23 And he went (thither) into Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of the Lord was made also on him (And he went on toward Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of the Lord was also made upon him); and he went (on), and entered, and prophesied, till the while he came into Naioth in Ramah.
24 And Saul also unclothed him(self) of his clothes, and he prophesied with other men before Samuel, and he prophesied naked all that day and night. Wherefore a common saying went out, Whether and Saul be among [the] prophets? (And so a common saying went out, Is Saul now also among the prophets?)

1 Samuel 19:18-24 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 19

This chapter relates the dangers David was exposed unto through Saul's enmity at him, and his deliverance from them, as by the notice Jonathan gave him of his father's designs against him, and by his kind interposition on his behalf, 1Sa 19:1-7; by David's slipping out of Saul's presence, when he was about to cast a javelin at him, 1Sa 19:8-10; by Michal's letting him down through a window, when Saul sent messengers to kill him, and by deceiving them with an image laid in his bed in the room of him, 1Sa 19:11-17, and again by Samuel's protection of him at Naioth, whither David fled, and where Saul sent messengers after him, and at length came himself; and instead of laying hands on David, both he and the messengers were set a prophesying, 1Sa 19:18-24.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.