1 Samuel 18:27

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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עָרְלֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔ם

ʻorlâh

H6190

“foreskins · their”

Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 16× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 17:11

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6189

TWOT: 1695a

foreskin, uncircumcised

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 →

24: words
19: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is עָרְלֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔ם foreskin H6190 — appearing just 16 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

עָרְלֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔ם foreskin H6190 occurs in 16 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

7 verbs
12 nouns
1 adjective
1 pronoun
1 preposition
2 particles

Verb forms

וַיָּ֨קָם Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיַּ֣ךְ Hiphil · Sequential Imperfect
וַיָּבֵ֤א Hiphil · Sequential Imperfect
וַיְמַלְא֣וּם Piel · Sequential Imperfect
לְהִתְחַתֵּ֖ן Hithpael · Infinitive Construct
וַיִּתֶּן Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

דָּוִ֜ד David H1732 ×2
וַאֲנָשָׁ֗יו man H376 ×2
לַמֶּ֔לֶךְ king H4428 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 47 words from the Hebrew and 37 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 18:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

2 Samuel 3:14 David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, whom I pledged to be married to me for one hundred foreskins of the Philistines.
Judges 14:19 The Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes [of clothing] to those who declared the riddle. His anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.
1 Samuel 18:13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

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 18:27 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיָּ֨קָם דָּוִ֜ד וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ ה֣וּא וַאֲנָשָׁ֗יו וַיַּ֣ךְ בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים֮ מָאתַ֣יִם אִישׁ֒ וַיָּבֵ֤א דָוִד֙ אֶת עָרְלֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔ם וַיְמַלְא֣וּם לַמֶּ֔לֶךְ לְהִתְחַתֵּ֖ן בַּמֶּ֑לֶךְ וַיִּתֶּן ל֥וֹ שָׁא֛וּל אֶת מִיכַ֥ל בִּתּ֖וֹ לְאִשָּֽׁה

and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Samuel 18:27 Septuagint · lemma form

And David arose, and went, he and his men, and struck among the Philistines one hundred men: and he brought their foreskins, and he becomes the king's son-in-law, and Saul gives him Melchol his daughter to wife.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Adam Clarke's Commentary 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)

וְקָם דָוִד וַאֲזַל הוּא וְגַבְרוֹהִי וּקְטַל בִּפְלִשְׁתָּאֵי מָאתָן גַבְרָא וְאַיְתֵי דָוִד יַת עָרְלַתְהוֹן וְאַשְׁלֵמִינוּן לְמַלְכָּא לְאִתְחַתָּנָא בְּמַלְכָּא וִיהַב לֵיה שָׁאוּל יַת מִיכַל בְּרַתֵּיהּ לְאִתּוּ:

(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 18:27 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 18:27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

Ver. 27. Two hundred men.] He doubled the number of foreskins required: (1.) To cut off all cavils; (2.) To show to Saul his liberality and generosity. Strabo saith {a} that among the old Germans none might marry a wife, who had not first presented to their king the head of an enemy cut off. In the year 959 our King Edgar, to free his country from wolves, enjoined the prince of North Wales to bring him yearly three hundred skins of them for a tribute.

{a} Geog., lib. xv.

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.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Meaning, David and his soldiers.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

David . . . slew of the Philistines two hundred men--The number was doubled, partly to show his respect and attachment to the princess, and partly to oblige Saul to the fulfilment of his pledge.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 27. Slew - two hundred men.] The Septuagint has only one hundred men. Saul covenanted with David for a hundred; and David himself says, 2Sa 3:14, that he espoused Michal for a hundred: hence it is likely that one hundred is the true reading.

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

27. two hundred men] He slew double the stipulated number of Philistines. The Sept. however reads “one hundred.” Cp. 2Sa_3:14.

in full tale] “Tale” = a number told or counted off, a reckoning. Compare

“Every shepherd tells his tale

Under the hawthorn in the dale.”

Milton, L’Allegro, l. 67.

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

He doubled the number required; partly to oblige Saul the more to the performance of his promise; and partly to show his great respect and affection to Saul’s daughter.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

27. Two hundred men — Twice the number required. “This was another great exploit — far more arduous, although less renowned, than the overthrow of Goliath. It must have attracted great attention at the time, and have conduced in no small degree to the public estimation in which David was held.” — Kitto.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Two hundred - He doubled the number required; to oblige Saul the more to the performance of his promise; and to shew his great respect and affection to Saul's daughter.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

two hundred Philistines

This can be rendered numerically. AT: "200 Philistines" (See: Numbers)

they gave them in full number to the king

"David and his men gave all of them to the king"

Saul saw, and he knew

Here the words "saw" and "knew" share similar meanings and emphasize that Saul knew with certainty. AT: "Saul recognized" (See: Doublet)

Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him

Here "loved" means she had romantic feelings for David.

translationWords

king

Yahweh

love

fear

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

Dovid rose and went, he and his men…and gave them all. Presenter in O.F.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

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 24 words (19 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻorlâh (“foreskin”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word ʻorlâh carries the sense “foreskin.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 17:11 shares the word «foreskin» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“David” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «וַיָּ֨קָם» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 16 words in this verse.
“David” occurs 2× in this single verse.
19 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 24 words in this verse.