Bible Strands
1 Samuel 18:2
And from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes Saul’s decision immediately after David finishes speaking with him in 1 Samuel 18:1 and before Jonathan’s covenant in 1 Samuel 18:3.
The words — וַ/יִּקָּחֵ֥/הוּ (va/yi.kach/ehu) translates literally as “and he took him” [H3947], while וְ/לֹ֣א נְתָנ֔/וֹ לָ/שׁ֖וּב (ve/lo ne'tan/ho la/shuv) means “and he did not permit him to return” [H3808; H5414; H7725].
The thread — This restriction severs David from his prior routine of traveling between Bethlehem and Saul’s court to tend sheep (1 Samuel 17:15) and fulfills his initial appointment as armor-bearer (1 Samuel 16:21).
Why it lands — The text records a concrete political and familial severance that forces David to abandon his household and remain permanently within Saul’s immediate control.
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 took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 17:15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
- 1 Samuel 16:21 When David came to Saul and entered his service, Saul loved him very much, and David became his armor-bearer.