Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 19:5
When someone came and told David about his men, he sent messengers to meet them, since the men had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David receives a report about his humiliated servants and issues a directive to them. He instructs the disgraced men to remain in Jericho until their beards regrow before returning to him.
The words — The text highlights וַ/יִּשְלַ֣ח (va/i.yish.Lach), meaning "and he sent," and לִ/קְרָאתָ֔/ם (li/k.ra.Ta/m), meaning "to meet them." These verbs describe David's immediate response to dispatch couriers to locate the shamed servants.
The thread — The motif of regrowth appears in Judges 16:22 regarding Samson's hair, while Jericho is later noted in 1 Kings 16:34 for its rebuilding. The passage itself follows the humiliation of David's envoys in 1 Chronicles 19:4 and precedes the Ammonite mercenary mobilization in 1 Chronicles 19:6.
Why it lands — The verse requires a reader to recognize the practical mercy embedded in royal protocol. It demands acknowledgment that institutional power can enforce dignity through temporary withdrawal rather than immediate punishment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then there went certain, and told David how the men were served. And he sent to meet them: for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.
Cross-references
- Joshua 6:24 Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.
- Judges 16:22 However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.
- 1 Kings 16:34 In Ahab’s days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he set up its gates, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Joshua son of Nun.
- Matthew 18:31 When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.