Bible Strands
1 Samuel 19:15
But Saul sent the messengers back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so I can kill him.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Saul gives renewed orders to his messengers after initially dispatching them to seize David, instructing them to retrieve him from his bed. This command follows Michal’s report of David’s illness and precedes the messengers’ discovery of the teraphim in the bed.
The words — The Hebrew וַיִּשְׁלַח (va.yishlach) translates “and he sent,” while לֵאמֹר (le’emor) functions as a quotative marker meaning “saying” or “telling.” These terms mark the text’s shift from narrative action to direct royal command.
The thread — Saul’s renewed order directly contradicts his sworn oath in 1 Samuel 19:6 to spare David, while his plotted violence mirrors the wicked scheming described in Psalms 37:12. The narrative repeatedly contrasts sworn protection with hidden malice throughout the David-Saul conflict.
Why it lands — The passage records a ruler who breaks a public oath and manipulates deception to eliminate a perceived threat. Readers confront how authority becomes destructive when fear overrides sworn fidelity.
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 sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 19:6 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”
- Job 31:31 if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—
- Psalms 37:12 The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
- Proverbs 27:3 A stone is heavy and sand is a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.
- Romans 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;