Bible Strands
1 Samuel 14:44
And Saul declared, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if you, Jonathan, do not surely die!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Saul speaks this oath directly to Jonathan immediately after Jonathan admits to tasting honey. The declaration occurs at the precise moment Saul demands Jonathan’s execution for violating his earlier military vow.
The words — כֹּה יַעֲשֶׂה־אֱלֹהִים וְכֹה יֹסִיף (koh ya‘aseh-’elohim we-koh yosiφ) translates literally as “thus may God do and thus may he add.” The phrase functions as an intensifying oath formula.
The thread — This exact oath structure appears in Ruth 1:17 and 1 Samuel 25:22 as a standard biblical mechanism for swearing absolute commitment or threat. 1 Samuel 14:39 contains a different oath formula and does not use this phrasing.
Why it lands — The text records Saul’s formal curse demanding Jonathan’s death, which the narrative immediately contrasts with the people’s intervention. A reader must recognize how human vows, when made in haste, conflict with divine deliverance and communal wisdom.
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 Saul answered, God do so and more also: for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan.
Cross-references
- Ruth 1:17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
- 1 Samuel 14:39 As surely as the LORD who saves Israel lives, even if it is my son Jonathan, he must die!” But not one of the troops said a word.
- 1 Samuel 25:22 May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”
- Genesis 38:24 About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”
- 2 Samuel 3:9 May God punish Abner, and ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the LORD has sworn to him:
- 2 Samuel 12:5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
- 2 Samuel 12:31 David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.
- 2 Samuel 19:13 And say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”
- Proverbs 25:16 If you find honey, eat just what you need, lest you have too much and vomit it up.