1 Samuel 18:15

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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מַשְׂכִּ֣יל

sâkal

H7919

“being prudent”

Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 63× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 3:6

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2263 , 2264

to be prudent, be circumspect, wisely understand, prosper - (Qal) to be prudent, be circumspect - (Hiphil) - to look at or upon, have insight - to give attention to, consider, ponder, be prudent - to have insight, have comprehension - insight, comprehension (substantive) - to cause to consider, give insight, teach - the teachers, the wise - to act circumspectly, act prudently, act wisely - to prosper, have success - to cause to prosper - (Piel) to lay crosswise, cross (hands)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

8: words
8: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
2 nouns
1 pronoun
1 adverb
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיַּ֣רְא Qal · Sequential Imperfect
מַשְׂכִּ֣יל Hiphil · Participle Active
וַיָּ֖גָר Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 14 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 1 Samuel 18:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 112:5 It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
Daniel 6:4–5 Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion nor fault, because he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.
Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Samuel 18:15 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיַּ֣רְא שָׁא֔וּל אֲשֶׁר ה֖וּא מַשְׂכִּ֣יל מְאֹ֑ד וַיָּ֖גָר מִפָּנָֽיו

When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Samuel 18:15 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον σαούλ ὅδε εἶπον ὁ δαυίδ οὐ βούλομαι ὁ βασιλεύς ἐν δόμα ἀλλά ἤ ἐν ἑκατόν ἀκροβυστία ἀλλόφυλος ἐκδικέω εἰς ἐχθρός ὁ βασιλεύς καί σαούλ λογίζομαι αὐτός ἐνβάλλω εἰς χείρ ὁ ἀλλόφυλος

And Saul saw that he was very wise, and he was afraid of him.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, John Gill's Exposition discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וַחֲזָא שָׁאוּל דְהוּא מַצְלַח לַחֲדָא וּדְחִיל מִן קֳדָמוֹהִי:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 1 Samuel 18:15 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

1Sa 18:15 Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.

Ver. 15. He was afraid of him,] viz., Lest the people should make him king. He had sent him from court as an eye sore, and yet he ceaseth not to malign him. He could not come at David’s heart; he will therefore needs feed upon his own. See 1Sa 18:12. Invidia semper se devorat primum, uti vermis nucleum ex quo nascitur. Envy is destructive.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 15. He was afraid of him.] He saw that, by his prudent conduct, he was every day gaining increasing influence.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

15. was afraid of him] Stood in awe of him, a stronger expression than that in 1Sa_18:12, denoting primarily the avoidance of the person feared. (Cp. Sept. εὐλαβεῖτο ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ.)

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And all Israel and Judah loved David,.... The verb is singular, and denotes that everyone of them loved him in all the tribes of Israel, as well as in Judah his own tribe; in such general esteem was he, and so much had he got the hearts and affections of the people:

because he went out and came in before them; the people, as in Sa1 18:13; so the Septuagint version, in which, according to the Vatican copy, the verses Sa1 18:17 are wanting.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Began. Septuagint, "he was filled with awe in his presence." Hebrew, "he was afraid of him," as he perceived that God protected him in all perils.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

he stood in awe of him

Here "stood in awe" is an idiom that means to fear. AT: "he feared David" (See: Idiom)

all Israel and Judah loved David

Here "Israel and Judah" represent the people of all of the tribes. AT: "all the people in Israel and Judah loved David" (See: Metonymy)

went out and came in before them

The phrases "went out" and "came in" are idioms that refer to leading the people into battle and leading them home from battle. See how you translated this in 1 Samuel 18:13. AT: "led his soldiers into battle and led them home from battle" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

awe

Israel

Judah

love

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Samuel, in the Historical, opens this verse with 8 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is sâkal (“to be prudent”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to be prudent” (sâkal) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Psalms 112:5, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַיַּ֣רְא» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.