Bible Strands
1 Samuel 10:23
So they ran and brought Saul, and when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the people retrieving Saul after the LORD indicates his hiding place, placing him visibly among the crowd at the moment of his public recognition as king.
The words — וַ/יִּגְבַּהּ֙ (va/i.yig.Bah) = and/ he was tall [H1361] paired with מִ/כָּל\־ (mi./kol) = more than/ all [H3605] literally render the physical comparison that follows his presentation.
The thread — 1 Samuel 9:2 establishes Saul's height as his initial distinguishing mark. 1 Samuel 16:7 records the LORD rejecting height as a criterion for choice. 1 Samuel 17:4 notes Goliath's height as a physical standard of military threat.
Why it lands — The text records Saul's physical prominence to validate his visible selection, demanding the reader note how human metrics of stature initially frame leadership before the narrative shifts to divine evaluation.
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
And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 9:2 And he had a son named Saul, choice and handsome, without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the people.
- 1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”
- 1 Samuel 17:4 Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,