Bible Strands
1 Samuel 27:5
Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be assigned a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David speaks to Achish, king of Gath, immediately after learning that Saul has ceased his pursuit.
The words — The Hebrew חֵן (chen) translates literally to "favor," establishing the conditional ground for David’s request to reside outside the capital.
The thread — This request for geographic separation mirrors the distinctness maintained in Genesis 46:34 and anticipates the call to physical and moral separation in 2 Corinthians 6:17.
Why it lands — The text asks the reader to acknowledge that proximity to a seat of power does not ensure safety, and that strategic distance can be a practical requirement for survival.
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 said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?
Cross-references
- Genesis 46:34 you are to say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock ever since our youth—both we and our fathers.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”
- 2 Corinthians 6:17 “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”