Bible Strands
1 Samuel 24:4
So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’” Then David crept up and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David’s men address him while concealed in a cave recess, declaring that the moment God promised to deliver King Saul has arrived. They speak at the precise instant Saul enters the cave to relieve himself while David and his troops remain hidden.
The words — The Hebrew וַ/יֹּאמְרוּ (va/i.yo.me.Ru) translates literally as “and they said,” recording the men’s verbal intervention. The term הַ/יּ֜וֹם (hai./Yom) means “the day,” anchoring the event to a specific, divinely marked occasion.
The thread — The text records the same promise of delivery in 1 Samuel 26:8 when Abishai urges David to strike, and David later references the cave encounter in 1 Samuel 24:10 and 1 Samuel 26:23. Interpreters note that these repetitions track a consistent narrative pattern where God provides opportunity but David refuses to exploit it by violence.
Why it lands — The text states that David crept forward and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe without recording his internal reasoning or immediate justification. Readers must confront the factual tension between a granted opportunity and a restrained response, requiring them to examine obedience against immediate advantage without assuming moral resolution.
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 the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”
- 1 Samuel 24:10 Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’
- 1 Samuel 26:23 May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not extend my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
- 1 Samuel 25:28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.
- 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 23:17 saying, “Do not be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. And you will be king over Israel, and I will be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows this is true.”
- 1 Samuel 24:18 And you have declared this day how you have treated me well, for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.
- 2 Samuel 4:8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life. Today the LORD has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”
- Job 31:31 if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—