Bible Strands
1 Samuel 9:5
When they reached the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant, “Come, let us go back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Saul addresses his servant upon entering the land of Zuph after a complete failure to locate their father’s donkeys across Ephraim, Shalishah, Shaalim, and Benjamin. He commands an immediate return, noting that his father will soon shift his anxiety from the lost livestock to their own welfare.
The words — The Hebrew צ֔וּף (Tzuf) marks the specific geographic boundary they have reached, while the phrase לְ/נַעֲר֥/וֹ (le./na.'a.R/o) explicitly identifies the listener as Saul’s subordinate, framing the dialogue as a practical consultation rather than a prophetic encounter.
The thread — The tension between human concern and divine timing recurs in the family background of 1 Samuel 1:1, while the servant’s pivot toward spiritual guidance in 1 Samuel 9:6 establishes the narrative bridge to 1 Samuel 10:2.
Why it lands — The passage records a purely logistical decision made without recorded prayer or divine instruction, requiring the reader to note how ordinary human anxiety operates as the immediate context for God’s subsequent intervention.
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 when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 10:2 When you leave me today, you will find two men at Rachel’s tomb in Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you seek have been found, and now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and started worrying about you, asking, “What should I do about my son?”’
- 1 Samuel 1:1 Now there was a man named Elkanah who was from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
- Luke 12:11 When you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say.
- Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- Matthew 6:28 And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin.
- Luke 12:22 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
- Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.