Bible Strands
1 Samuel 25:21
Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David voices this assessment to his men just as Abigail intercepts him in a mountain ravine to prevent bloodshed. (1 Samuel 25:20–22)
The words — The Hebrew שָׁמַ֜רְתִּי (sha.Mar.ti) means "I have guarded," while לַ/שֶּׁ֨קֶר (la./She.ker) carries the literal sense "to deception" or "in vain."
The thread — The motif of repaying evil for good surfaces in Proverbs 17:13 as a warning and in Romans 12:21 as a command, while Ephesians 4:26 addresses managing anger without sinning.
Why it lands — The text states David’s calculation that his protection yielded only hostility and his immediate turn toward retaliation. It asks a reader to observe how perceived injustice triggers vengeance and to recognize the necessity of deliberate intervention to stop the cycle.
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
Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 17:13 If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never leave his house.
- Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
- Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,
- Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.
- 1 Peter 2:20 How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
- 1 Peter 3:17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
- Genesis 44:4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph told his steward, “Pursue the men at once, and when you overtake them, ask, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?
- 1 Samuel 25:13 And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men strapped on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
- Job 30:8 A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.