1 Samuel 30:8

8 and David counselled with the Lord, and said, Shall I pursue these thieves, either no? and shall I take them? And the Lord said to him, Pursue thou; for without doubt thou shalt take them, and thou shalt take away from them their prey. (and David counselled with the Lord, and said, Shall I pursue these thieves, or not? and shall I be able to overtake them? And the Lord said to him, Pursue thou them; for without a doubt thou shalt overtake them, and thou shalt take their prey away from them.)

1 Samuel 30:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:8

And David inquired of the Lord
That is, by Abiathar, who reported his questions to the Lord in his name:

saying, shall I pursue after this troop?
the large company of the Amalekites, as it appears by what follows they were:

shall I overtake them?
two questions are here put together, and answers returned to them, contrary to a notion of the Jews; (See Gill on 1 Samuel 23:11);

and he answered him, pursue;
which respects the first question:

for thou shall surely overtake [them];
which is an answer to the second question, and a full one, giving full assurance of overtaking; to which is added more than what was inquired about;

and without fail recover [all];
their wives, sons, and daughters, and the spoil that was taken; or "in delivering thou shall deliver" ^F16, out of the hands of the Amalekites, whatsoever they had taken.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (lyut luh) "eruendo erues", Pagninus, Montanus; "eripiendo erepturus es", Piscator.

1 Samuel 30:8 In-Context

6 And David was full sorry; certainly all the people would have stoned David, for the soul of each man was bitter on their sons and daughters. Forsooth David was comforted in his Lord God. (And David was in great trouble; yea, all the men would have stoned David, for all of them were bitter over losing their sons and daughters. But David was strengthened by the Lord his God.)

7 And he said to Abiathar, the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Bring thou [the] ephod to me. And Abiathar brought the ephod to David;

8 and David counselled with the Lord, and said, Shall I pursue these thieves, either no? and shall I take them? And the Lord said to him, Pursue thou; for without doubt thou shalt take them, and thou shalt take away from them their prey. (and David counselled with the Lord, and said, Shall I pursue these thieves, or not? and shall I be able to overtake them? And the Lord said to him, Pursue thou them; for without a doubt thou shalt overtake them, and thou shalt take their prey away from them.)

9 Therefore David went forth, he and six hundred men that were with him, and they came unto the strand of Besor; and there the weary men of the host of David abode behind. (And so David went forth, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Besor Stream; and the weary men in David's army stayed behind there.)

10 Forsooth David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred abided (behind), that were weary, and might not pass [over] the strand of Besor.