1 Samuel 26:13

Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an hill afar off; a great space being between them:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
David	דָּוִד֙ da.Vid	H1732	David · proper noun, a man's name
over	וַיַּעֲבֹ֤ר vai.ya.'a.Vor	H5674	to cross over · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
side	הָעֵ֔בֶר ha.'E.ver	H5676	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
stood	וַיַּעֲמֹ֥ד vai.ya.'a.Mod	H5975	to stand · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
top	רֹאשׁ rosh-	H7218	the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct
hill	הָהָ֖ר ha.Har	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
off	מֵֽרָחֹ֑ק me.ra.Chok	H7350	remote · preposition + adjective, masculine singular absolute
great	רַ֥ב rav	H7227	abundant (in quantity · adjective, masculine singular absolute
space	הַמָּק֖וֹם ha.ma.Kom	H4725	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine 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

Judges 9:7 And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hear…
1 Samuel 24:8 David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 26:13-20

David having got safely from Saul's camp himself, and having brought with him proofs sufficient that he had been there, posts himself conveniently, so that they might hear him and yet not reach him (Sa1 26:13), and then begins to reason with them upon what had passed. I. He reasons ironically with Abner, and keenly banters him. David knew well that it was from the mighty power of God that Abner and the rest of the guards were cast into so deep a sleep, and that God's immediate hand was in it; but he reproaches Abner as unworthy to be captain of the lifeguards, since he could sleep when the king his master lay so much exposed. By this it appears that the hand of God locked them up in this dee…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 26:13

Then David . . . stood on the top of an hill afar off . . . and cried to the people--(See on Jdg 9:7). The extraordinary purity and elasticity of the air in Palestine enable words to be distinctly heard that are addressed by a speaker from the top of one hill to people on that of another, from which it is separated by a deep intervening ravine. Hostile parties can thus speak to each other, while completely beyond the reach of each other's attack. It results from the peculiar features of the country in many of the mountain districts.

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 26:12

David took the spear and the cruse - The spear, we have already seen, was the emblem of power and regal dignity. But it is usual, in Arab camps, for every man to have his lance stuck in the ground beside him, that he may be ready for action in a moment. The cruse of water resembled, in some measure, the canteens of our soldiers. In such a climate, where water was always scarce, it was necessary for each man to carry a little with him, to refresh him on his march. A deep sleep from the Lord - It is the same word which is used, Gen 2:21, to describe the sleep which God caused to fall upon Adam, when he formed Eve out of his side.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 26:13

Then David went over to the other side,.... To a hill on the other side, opposite to Hachilah, where Saul lay encamped; or "passed over the passage" (q), the valley that lay between the two hills, and perhaps passed over a brook that ran in the valley, which is not unusual; so Josephus (r) says, that he went over a brook and came to the top of a mountain: and stood on the top of an hill afar off; he chose the top of an hill, that his voice might be heard at a distance, as it might in a clear air, and still night; and to be afar off, that he might the better make his escape, should an attempt be made to pursue him: a great space being between them; a large valley lying between the two hills…

The Church Fathers

And when David had passed over to the other side, etc. When Jesus had passed over from this world to the Father, and remained untroubled in the height of the Father's kingdom, clearly separated far from the sight of mortals, and there was a great distance between Him, immortal victor over death, sitting at the right hand of the Father in the flesh as God, and those who, being mortal, miserable, and impious in this world, endeavored to fight against Him; He cried out through His apostles, preaching to the people of Israel, and to its scribes, urging them to rise from the slumber of their harmful lethargy and to respond to Him by believing. For Abner, who is interpreted as the lamp of the Father, shows those who should have ministered the light of truth to the people at that time. His father Ner, who is translated as a lamp, typifies their teachers who preceded in spiritually kindling and showing the light of legal knowledge to them and the people.
— Bede, Commentary on Samuel

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

Abner — Father of light; i.e., “enlightening”, the son of Ner and uncle of Saul. He was commander-in-chief of Saul’s army (1 Sam. 14:50; 17:55; 20:25). He first introduced David to the court of Saul after…
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.…
Hachilah — The darksome hill, one of the peaks of the long ridge of el-Kolah, running out of the Ziph plateau, “on the south of Jeshimon” (i.e., of the “waste”), the district to which one looks down from the…
Sela-hammahlekoth — Cliff of divisions the name of the great gorge which lies between Hachilah and Maon, south-east of Hebron. This gorge is now called the Wady Malaky. This was the scene of the interview between David…
Citizens · .David — .David
Loyalty · .David — .David
Self-Control · Of David — Of 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 26:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 26:13-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 26:13

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 26:12

John Gill on 1 Samuel 26:13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 26:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 26:13-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 26:13

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 26:12

John Gill on 1 Samuel 26:13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 26:13-20

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 26:10

Rashi on 1 Samuel 26:11