1 Samuel 20:23

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) 1 Samuel 20:23 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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1 Samuel 20:23 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/1-samuel/20/23.

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English Translation
As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD be between thee and me for ever.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the word that I and you have spoken, behold, Yahweh between me and between you forever.”

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD be between thee and me for ever.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, Jehovah is between thee and me for ever.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD is between thee and me for ever.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    As touching the thing which thou and I haue spoken of, beholde, the Lord be betweene thee and me for euer.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And concerning the word which I and thou have spoken, the Lord be between thee and me for ever.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    as to the thing which we have spoken, I and thou, lo, Jehovah `is' between me and thee -- unto the age.'
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    as for the thing which you and I have spoken, behold, YHWH [is] between me and you for all time.”
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, see, Yahweh is between you and me forever.'”
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the word that I and you have spoken, behold, Yahweh between me and between you forever.”
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And as to the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, Jehovah is between me and thee for ever.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    Concerning the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD is between you and me forever.”
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And as to the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD be between thee and me for ever.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    As for what you and I talked about, remember that the Lord is a witness between you and me forever.”
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    As for what you and I were talking of, the Lord is between you and me for ever.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And as touching the matter which I and thou have spoken of, behold, the LORD is between me and thee for ever.'

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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בֵּינִ֥י
bêyn
H996
“between · me”
Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
Part of Speech
Preposition
Full BDB Definition

Origin: (sometimes in the pl. masc. or fem.) properly, the constructive form of an otherwise unused noun from H995

TWOT: 239a

between, among, in the midst of (with other preps), from between
  1. וְהַ֨דָּבָ֔ר dâbâr H1697 “and · the · word” Conjunction + Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  2. אֲשֶׁ֥ר ʼăsher H834 “which” Particle, Relative
  3. דִּבַּ֖רְנוּ dâbar H1696 “to speak” Verb, Piel, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Plural
  4. אֲנִ֣י ʼănîy H589 “I” Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  5. וָאָ֑תָּה ʼattâh H859 “and · you” Conjunction + Pronoun, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  6. הִנֵּ֧ה hinnêh H2009 “behold” Particle, Demonstrative
  7. יְהוָ֛ה Yᵉhôvâh H3068 “LORD” Noun, Proper
  8. וּבֵינְךָ֖ bêyn H996 “and · between · you” Conjunction + Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  9. עַד ʻad H5704 “until” Preposition
  10. עוֹלָֽם ʻôwlâm H5769 “forever” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

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 →

11
words
10
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Grammatical profile

  • 1 verb
  • 3 nouns
  • 2 pronouns
  • 3 prepositions
  • 2 particles

Verb forms

  • דִּבַּ֖רְנוּ Piel · Perfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • בֵּינִ֥י between H996 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 19 words from the Hebrew and 22 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.

In the original languages it is 11 Hebrew tokens and 18 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

4

Topical passages linked to 1 Samuel 20:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • 1 Samuel 20:14–15 You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness of Yahweh, that I not die;
  • 1 Samuel 20:42 Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever. He arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
  • Genesis 31:50 If you will afflict my daughters, and if you will take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you."
  • Genesis 16:5 Sarai said to Abram, "This wrong is your fault. I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Yahweh judge between me and you."

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 20:23 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְהַ֨דָּבָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבַּ֖רְנוּ אֲנִ֣י וָאָ֑תָּה הִנֵּ֧ה יְהוָ֛ה בֵּינִ֥י וּבֵינְךָ֖ עַד עוֹלָֽם

As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Samuel 20:23 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ ῥῆμα ὅς λαλέω ἐγώ καί σύ ἰδού κύριος μάρτυς ἀνά μέσος ἐγώ καί σύ ἕως αἰών

And as for the word which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is witness between me and you for ever.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

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)

1

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.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    וּפִתְגָמָא דִי מַלֵילְנָא אֲנָא וְאַתְּ הָא מֵימְרָא דַייָ בֵּינִי וּבֵינָךְ סָהִיד עַד עַלְמָא:

    (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 20:23 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 20:23 And [as touching] the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD [be] between thee and me for ever.

Ver. 23. And as touching the matter.] The mutual covenant, see that it be kept inviolable, or the Lord will require it.

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of--The plan being concerted, the friends separated for a time, and the amiable character of Jonathan again peers out in his parting allusion to their covenant of friendship.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

23. as touching the matter, &c.] The reciprocal covenant of friendship just renewed and ratified.

the Lord, &c.] As the witness of our covenant, and the avenger of any breach of it. Cp. Gen_31:49; Gen_31:53.

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 as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of,.... The covenant they had made between them and their families:

behold, the Lord be between me and thee for ever: as a witness of the covenant, and a revenger of those that should break it; so the Targum,"behold, the Word of the Lord be between me and thee a witness for ever.''

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

Ever. Let us always inviolably adhere to our covenant. (Haydock)

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).

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Between - As a witness and a judge between us and our families forever, if on either side this league of friendship be violated.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

But as for the matter of which we have spoken. The covenant which we made together.

Behold, Adonoy is [witness] between me and you. A witness concerning that matter.

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 11 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is bêyn (“between”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “between” (bêyn) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. How does 1 Samuel 20:14–15, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
  3. What does the repetition of “between” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
  4. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  5. «דִּבַּ֖רְנוּ» is a Piel Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  6. Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

Comparing translations? Open the Compare panel on any verse page to stack up to four side by side.