Bible Strands
1 Samuel 30:11
Now his men found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave the man water to drink and food to eat—
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records David’s pursuing party locating a starving Egyptian in the field and delivering him to David after two hundred men were left behind at the brook due to exhaustion.
The words — The Hebrew וַֽיִּמְצְאוּ (va/yim.tze.'u) translates literally as "and they found," while מִצְרִי (mitz.Ri) identifies the rescued man specifically as an Egyptian.
The thread — This narrative instance of sustaining a foreigner echoes the legal instruction in Deuteronomy 23:7 to refrain from despising Egyptians and the ethical directive in Romans 12:20 to give drink to one who is thirsty.
Why it lands — The text demands that the reader accept practical provision for a vulnerable outsider as a concrete requirement of obedience, preceding any further action or outcome.
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 they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 23:7 Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.
- Romans 12:20 On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
- Deuteronomy 15:7 If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.
- Proverbs 25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
- Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,
- Luke 10:36 Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”