1 Samuel 31:1

Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Philistines	וּפְלִשְׁתִּ֖ים u.fe.lish.Tim	H6430	a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · conjunction + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
fought	נִלְחָמִ֣ים nil.cha.Mim	H3898	to feed on · verb, niphal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Israel	בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל be.Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · preposition + proper noun, a place name
men	אַנְשֵׁ֤י 'an.Shei	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
fled	וַיָּנֻ֜סוּ vai.ya.Nu.su	H5127	to flit · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
before	מִפְּנֵ֣י mi.pe.Nei	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Philistines	פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים fe.lish.Tim	H6430	a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
down	וַיִּפְּל֥וּ vai.yi.pe.Lu	H5307	to fall · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
slain	חֲלָלִ֖ים cha.la.Lim	H2491	pierced (especially to death) · adjective, masculine plural absolute
mount	בְּהַ֥ר be.Har	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Gilboa	הַגִּלְבֹּֽעַ ha.gil.Bo.a'	H1533	Gilboa · definite article + proper noun, a place name

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

1 Chronicles 10:1-12 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
1 Samuel 28:4 And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in…
2 Samuel 1:21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the might…
1 Samuel 12:25 But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.
1 Samuel 28:1 And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said un…
1 Samuel 28:15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war…
1 Samuel 29:1 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

The day of recompence has now come, in which Saul must account for the blood of the Amalekites which he had sinfully spared, and that of the priests which he had more sinfully spilt; that of David too, which he would have spilt, must come into the account. Now his day has come to fall, as David foresaw, when he should descend into battle and perish, Sa1 26:10. Come and see the righteous judgments of God. I. He sees his soldiers fall about him, Sa1 31:1. Whether the Philistines were more numerous, better posted, and better led on, or what other advantages they had, we are not told; but it seems they were more vigorous, for they made the onset; they fought against Israel, and the Israelites fl…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 31:1

Now the Philistines fought - This is the continuation of the account given in Sa1 29:1-11. The men of Israel fled - It seems as if they were thrown into confusion at the first onset, and turned their backs upon their enemies.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 31:1

Now the Philistines fought against Israel,.... Being come to Jezreel where Israel pitched, 1 Samuel 29:1; they fell upon them, began the battle: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines; at the first onset, as it should seem: and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa; which was near, and whither fleeing they were pursued and slain, at least great numbers of them.

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

The account of the war between the Philistines and Israel, the commencement of which has already been mentioned in Sa1 28:1, Sa1 28:4., and Sa1 29:1, is resumed in Sa1 31:1 in a circumstantial clause; and to this there is attached a description of the progress and result of the battle, more especially with reference to Saul. Consequently, in Ch1 10:1, where there had been no previous allusion to the war, the participle נלחמים is changed into the perfect. The following is the way in which we should express the circumstantial clause: "Now when the Philistines were fighting against Israel, the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and slain men fell in the mountains of Gilboa" (vid., Sa1 2…

The Church Fathers

And the men of Israel fled before the face of the Philistines, etc. They who seemed strong in contemplating the will of God, which the name Israel signifies, were deceived when they imprudently followed the works and teachings of the Gentiles, and they perished corrupted in the luxurious pride, which the name of Mount Gilboa, meaning slippery, signifies. But the downfall of heretics was also helped greatly by secular wisdom. Hence, one of our own beautifully said, Philosophers, the patriarchs of heretics, stained the purity of the Church with perverse doctrine.
— 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

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.…
Esdraelon — The Greek form of the Hebrew “Jezreel,” the name of the great plain (called by the natives Merj Ibn Amer; i.e., “the meadow of the son of Amer”) which stretches across Central Palestine from the…
Gaza — Called also Azzah, which is its Hebrew name (Deut. 2:23; 1 Kings 4:24; Jer. 25:20), strong, a city on the Mediterranean shore, remarkable for its early importance as the chief centre of a great…
Gilboa — Boiling spring, a mountain range, now Jebel Fukua’, memorable as the scene of Saul’s disastrous defeat by the Philistines. Here also his three sons were slain, and he himself died by his own hand (1…
Jezreel, Valley of — Lying on the northern side of the city, between the ridges of Gilboa and Moreh, an offshoot of Esdraelon, running east to the Jordan (Josh. 17:16; Judg. 6:33; Hos. 1:5). It was the scene of the…
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Archery · Practiced by the Philistines — Practiced by the Philistines
Gilboa · and died — and died
Jezreel · .Place of the — .Place of the
Mountains · Mentioned in scripture: Gilboa — Mentioned in scripture: Gilboa
Philistines · Israel defeated by, and Saul slain — Israel defeated by, and Saul slain

1 Samuel 31:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 31:1

John Gill on 1 Samuel 31:1

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 31:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 31:1

John Gill on 1 Samuel 31:1

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 31:1-13

Rashi on 1 Samuel 31:1