Bible Strands
1 Samuel 30:10
because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records David’s army at the Brook of Besor after the Amalekite raid. Two hundred men remain behind due to exhaustion while David and four hundred advance.
The words — וַיִּרְדֹּף (va-yir-dof) translates as "and he pursued," and וַיַּעַמְדוּ (va-ya-am-du) translates as "and they remained." These verbs structurally separate the advancing core from the stalled rear guard.
The thread — The abandoned group reappears in 1 Samuel 30:21 when David returns to them, and the exhaustion-pursuit pattern echoes Judges 8:4.
Why it lands — The text notes a forced division of forces and requires a reader to acknowledge physical limits as a factual condition of the campaign.
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
But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 30:9 So David and his six hundred men went to the Brook of Besor, where some stayed behind
- 1 Samuel 30:21 When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Brook of Besor, they came out to meet him and the troops with him. As David approached the men, he greeted them,
- Judges 8:4 Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit.
- 1 Samuel 14:20 Then Saul and all his troops assembled and marched to the battle, and they found the Philistines in total confusion, with each man wielding the sword against his neighbor.
- 1 Samuel 14:31 That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were very faint.