Bible Strands
1 Samuel 30:15
“Will you lead me to these raiders?” David asked. And the man replied, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will lead you to them.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David addresses a recovered Egyptian slave who has just guided him to the raiders who destroyed Ziklag. The man responds by demanding a sworn guarantee before he will lead David down to the camp.
The words — The text highlights הֲ/תוֹרִדֵ֖/נִי (ha./to.ri.De./ni), meaning “will you take down me,” and וַ/יֹּ֤אמֶר (va/i.Yo.mer), meaning “and he said.” These terms structure the direct negotiation where the man conditions his guidance on a binding oath.
The thread — The demand for a sworn guarantee echoes the oath protocols in Deuteronomy 23:15, Joshua 2:12, and Joshua 9:15, where formal pledges regulate the protection of refugees and the terms of peace. The narrative pattern shows sworn words functioning as the mechanism for securing safe passage and preventing betrayal.
Why it lands — The passage records a pragmatic exchange where survival and tactical advantage are secured through a formal oath. It requires the reader to recognize how biblical narratives treat sworn words as the operative boundary between mercy and violence.
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 to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 23:15 Do not return a slave to his master if he has taken refuge with you.
- Joshua 2:12 Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD that you will indeed show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign
- Joshua 9:15 And Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
- Joshua 9:19 All the leaders answered, “We have sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.
- 1 Samuel 29:6 So Achish summoned David and told him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been upright, and it seems right in my sight that you should march in and out with me in the army, because I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me until this day. But you are not good in the sight of the leaders.
- Ezekiel 17:13 He took a member of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. Then he carried away the leading men of the land,
- Ezekiel 17:16 ‘As surely as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who enthroned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke.
- Ezekiel 17:19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, I will bring down upon his head My oath that he despised and My covenant that he broke.