Bible Strands
1 Samuel 22:8
Is that why all of you have conspired against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made a covenant with the son of Jesse. Not one of you has shown concern for me or revealed to me that my son has stirred up my own servant to lie in wait against me, as is the case today.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Saul addresses his Benjamite servants during a hostile interrogation, demanding to know why they have failed to report that his son Jonathan has secretly allied with David.
The words — קְשַׁרְתֶּם (ke.shar.Tem) carries the literal sense "you have conspired," while גֹּלֶה (go.Leh) means "opens," specifically referring to opening one's ear to disclose hidden information.
The thread — The secret alliance between Jonathan and David is established in 1 Samuel 18:3, and Jonathan’s earlier assertion that Saul shares every decision with him is recorded in 1 Samuel 20:2.
Why it lands — The text states Saul’s accusation that his servants withheld information, which requires the reader to recognize how royal paranoia creates blind spots regarding familial loyalty and covert networks.
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
That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 18:3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
- 1 Samuel 23:21 “May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.
- 1 Samuel 20:2 “Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!”
- 1 Samuel 20:8 Therefore show kindness to your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”
- 1 Samuel 20:13 But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.
- 1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?
- 1 Samuel 20:42 And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.
- 1 Samuel 23:16 And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God,
- Job 33:16 He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings