Bible Strands
1 Samuel 22:23
Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks your life is seeking mine as well. You will be safe with me.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David addresses Abiathar immediately after Doeg the Edomite betrays the priests of Nob. David acknowledges his own culpability for the massacre and offers the surviving priest immediate refuge.
The words — The imperative שְׁבָה (shevah) commands "remain," reinforced by אַל־תִּירָא (al-tira), literally "do not be afraid." David justifies the command with the factual claim that the pursuer seeking Abiathar’s life is simultaneously seeking his own, making shared danger the basis for safety.
The thread — This dynamic of protected refuge amid lethal pursuit appears in John 10:28, where Jesus promises believers will never perish and cannot be snatched from his hand, and in 1 Kings 2:26, where Solomon spares Abiathar from death by sending him to his own fields.
Why it lands — The text establishes that survival depends on staying with the primary target of persecution rather than fleeing independently. It requires accepting shared risk as the necessary condition for protection.
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
Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard.
Cross-references
- John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.
- 1 Kings 2:26 Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, since you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and you suffered through all that my father suffered.”
- Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.
- John 18:9 This was to fulfill the word He had spoken: “I have not lost one of those You have given Me.”
- John 15:20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
- Matthew 24:9 Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
- John 17:12 While I was with them, I protected and preserved them by Your name, the name You gave Me. Not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
- John 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.