Bible Strands
1 Samuel 27:8
Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David and his men conduct a military raid while residing in Philistine territory during the fourteenth month of their year-and-four-month stay under King Achish.
The words — וַיַּעַל (va.ya'al) means "he went up," and וַיִּפְשְׁטוּ (va.yifshtu) means "they made raids," describing the physical movement and violent action against three specific groups.
The thread — The text references groups previously noted as unconquered in Joshua 13:2 and Joshua 13:13, while the Amalekites appear earlier in 1 Samuel 15:7 where Saul was commanded to strike them down.
Why it lands — The verse records a factual account of David’s raids and the geographic extent of the conquered peoples, establishing the historical context for his subsequent return to Achish in 1 Samuel 27:9.
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 and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.
Cross-references
- Joshua 13:2 This is the land that remains: All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites,
- 1 Samuel 15:7 Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
- Joshua 13:13 but the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites. So Geshur and Maacath dwell among the Israelites to this day.
- Joshua 16:10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.
- Judges 1:29 Ephraim also failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer; so the Canaanites continued to dwell among them in Gezer.
- Exodus 15:22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water.
- Exodus 17:8 After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
- Exodus 17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
- 1 Samuel 30:1 On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.
- 2 Samuel 13:37 Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day.