1 Samuel 24:17

And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
David	דָּוִ֔ד da.Vid	H1732	David · proper noun, a man's name
righteous	צַדִּ֥יק tza.Dik	H6662	just · adjective, masculine singular absolute
rewarded	גְּמַלְתַּ֣נִי ge.mal.Ta.ni	H1580	to treat a person (well or ill) · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
good	הַטּוֹבָ֔ה ha.to.Vah	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
rewarded	גְּמַלְתִּ֥יךָ ge.mal.Ti.kha	H1580	to treat a person (well or ill) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
evil	הָרָעָֽה ha.ra.'Ah	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use yo…
1 Samuel 26:21 Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: b…
Genesis 38:26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her ag…
Romans 12:20-21 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Exodus 9:27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people ar…
Psalms 37:6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
Matthew 27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 24:16–end

Here we have, I. Saul's penitent reply to David's speech. It was strange that he had patience to hear him out, considering how outrageous he was against him, and how cutting David's discourse was. But God restrained him and his men; and we may suppose Saul struck with amazement at the singularity of the event, and much more when he found how much he had lain at David's mercy. His heart must have been harder than a stone if this had not affected him. 1. He melted into tears, and we will not suppose them to have been counterfeit but real expressions of his present concern at the sight of his own iniquity, so plainly proved upon him. He speaks as one quite overcome with David's kindness: Is thi…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 24:8

HE URGES THEREBY HIS INNOCENCY. (Sa1 24:8-15) David also arose . . . and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul--The closeness of the precipitous cliffs, though divided by deep wadies, and the transparent purity of the air enable a person standing on one rock to hear distinctly the words uttered by a speaker standing on another (Jdg 9:7). The expostulation of David, followed by the visible tokens he furnished of his cherishing no evil design against either the person or the government of the king, even when he had the monarch in his power, smote the heart of Saul in a moment and disarmed him of his fell purpose of revenge. He owned the justice of what David said, acknowledged his own gu…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 24:16

My son David? - David had called Saul his master, lord, and king. Saul accosts him here as his son, to show that he felt perfectly reconciled to him, and wished to receive him as formerly into his family.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 24:17

And he said to David, thou art more righteous than I,.... By which it appears he thought himself righteous, though David was more so; the righteousness of David was so glaring, that his enemy himself being judge acknowledges it, but will not confess his own wickedness, having no true sense of sin, nor real sorrow for it: for thou hast rewarded me good; in times past, and now; heretofore in killing Goliath, fighting his battles for him against the Philistines, driving the evil spirit from him, by playing on the harp before him, and now by sparing his life, only cutting off the skirt of his garment, when he could with equal ease have cut off his head: whereas I have rewarded thee evil: in se…

The Church Fathers

Not even this act of benevolence moved Saul, however. Again he gathered an army and again he set out in pursuit, until he was a second time apprehended by David in the cave where he more clearly revealed his own iniquity and made the virtue of David even more resplendent. Envy is the most savage form of hatred. Favors render those who are hostile to us for any other reason more tractable, but kind treatment shown to an envious and spiteful person only aggravates his dislike. The greater the favors he receives, the more displeased and vexed and ill-disposed he becomes.
— Basil of Caesarea, CONCERNING ENVY

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Good For Evil · .David, to Saul — .David, to Saul
Ingratitude · Exemplified: Saul — Exemplified: Saul
Mercy · .David to Saul — .David to Saul
Unselfishness · .David — .David

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

1 Samuel 24:17

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 24:16–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 24:8

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 24:16

John Gill on 1 Samuel 24:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 24:17

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 24:16–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 24:8

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 24:16

John Gill on 1 Samuel 24:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 24:16-18

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 24:13

Rashi on 1 Samuel 24:14