Bible Strands
1 Samuel 27:10
who would ask him, “What have you raided today?” And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Achish asks David what territory he has raided that day, and David replies by naming the Negev regions of Judah, Jerahmeel, and the Kenites. This exchange occurs during David’s residence in Philistine territory while he continues his military campaigns.
The words — אָכִישׁ (Achish) identifies the Philistine ruler posing the inquiry, while פְּשַׁטְתֶּ֖ם (pe.sha.Tem) denotes the act of making a raid or plundering. These terms anchor the dialogue in military conquest and royal accounting.
The thread — The named regions appear elsewhere in Scripture, including the Kenites in Judges 1:16 and the descendants of Jerahmeel in 1 Chronicles 2:9 and 1 Chronicles 2:25. These references trace the geographic and tribal boundaries David claims to have targeted.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to observe how David uses strategic deception to maintain his cover while executing his campaigns. It demands attention to the precise naming of territories as a mechanism for sustaining his false narrative.
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 Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.
Cross-references
- Judges 1:16 Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live among the people.
- 1 Chronicles 2:9 The sons who were born to Hezron: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Caleb.
- 1 Chronicles 2:25 The sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron: Ram his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.
- Judges 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.
- 1 Samuel 30:29 to those in Racal and in the cities of the Jerahmeelites and Kenites;
- Galatians 2:11 When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
- Genesis 27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.”
- Genesis 27:24 Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.”
- Numbers 24:21 Next he saw the Kenites and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Your dwelling place is secure, and your nest is set in a cliff.
- Joshua 2:4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they had come from.