Bible Strands
1 Samuel 23:14
And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David and his men have relocated after fleeing Keilah, while Saul repeatedly pursues him through the hill country. (1 Samuel 23:13-15)
The words — The text employs וַיֵּשֶׁב (va.yeshev), literally "he dwelt" or "he stayed," and בְּמִדְבַּר־זִיף (be.midbar-Ziph), "in the wilderness of Ziph," to document David's movement into fortified high ground.
The thread — The narrative's emphasis on God withholding David from Saul's hand aligns with the deliverance themes of Psalms 32:7 and Psalms 54:3, while the location Ziph is geographically catalogued in Joshua 15:55.
Why it lands — The passage records that divine restraint actively blocked Saul's relentless searches, demanding the reader acknowledge that human pursuit cannot override God's protective will.
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 David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
Cross-references
- Psalms 54:3 For strangers rise up against me, and ruthless men seek my life—men with no regard for God. Selah
- Joshua 15:55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,
- Psalms 32:7 You are my hiding place. You protect me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
- Joshua 15:24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,
- Romans 8:31 What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- 2 Timothy 3:11 my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
- 1 Samuel 23:7 When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”
- 1 Samuel 27:1 David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
- Psalms 11:1 For the choirmaster. Of David. In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!
- Psalms 37:32 Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous, and seek to slay them,