Bible Strands
1 Samuel 20:7
If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David instructs Jonathan on how to interpret Saul’s verbal response to a planned absence, establishing a binary sign for David’s survival or danger.
The words — חָרֹה (cha.Roh) literally means “to burn” and describes the king’s rage, while שָׁלוֹם (sha.Lom) denotes the safety promised if the king’s answer is “good.”
The thread — This conditional framework for assessing authority mirrors the urgent discernment called for in 1 Samuel 25:17 and the immediate peril faced in Esther 7:7.
Why it lands — It requires a reader to treat the ruler’s explicit emotional state as the definitive indicator of consequences, rather than relying on assumed loyalty or favorable outcomes.
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
If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 25:17 Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”
- Esther 7:7 In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him.
- Deuteronomy 1:23 The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one from each tribe.
- 1 Samuel 20:9 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”
- 2 Samuel 17:4 This proposal seemed good to Absalom and all the elders of Israel.