1 Samuel 26:24

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Behold, as your life was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of Yahweh, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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צָרָֽה

tsârâh

H6869

“distress”

Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 73× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 35:3

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6862

TWOT: 1973c , 1974b

straits, distress, trouble - vexer, rival wife

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 →

15: words
12: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
8 nouns
1 pronoun
3 particles

Verb forms

גָּדְלָ֧ה Qal · Perfect
תִּגְדַּ֤ל Qal · Imperfect
וְיַצִּלֵ֖נִי Hiphil · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

גָּדְלָ֧ה to grow H1431 ×2
נַפְשְׁךָ֛ soul H5315 ×2
בְּעֵינָ֑י eye H5869 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 35 words from the Hebrew and 35 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

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 15 Hebrew tokens and 29 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

Topical passages linked to 1 Samuel 26:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 34:17–18 The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.
Psalms 54:7 For he has delivered me out of all trouble. My eye has seen triumph over my enemies.
Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
2 Corinthians 1:9–10 Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
Genesis 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."
Psalms 18:1 I love you, Yahweh, my strength.
Psalms 18:25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.
Psalms 18:48 He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

Psalms 144:2 My loving kindness, my fortress, My high tower, my deliverer, My shield, and he in whom I take refuge; Who subdues my people under me.
Matthew 7:2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
Acts 14:22 confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of God.
2 Thessalonians 3:2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for not all have faith.
Revelation 7:14 I told him, "My lord, you know." He said to me, "These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb's blood.

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 26:24 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְהִנֵּ֗ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר גָּדְלָ֧ה נַפְשְׁךָ֛ הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֖ה בְּעֵינָ֑י כֵּ֣ן תִּגְדַּ֤ל נַפְשִׁי֙ בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה וְיַצִּלֵ֖נִי מִכָּל צָרָֽה

Behold, as your life was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of Yahweh, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Samuel 26:24 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἰδού καθώς μεγαλυλύνω ὁ ψυχή σύ σήμερον ἐν οὗτος ἐν ὀφθαλμός ἐγώ οὕτως μεγαλύνω ὁ ψυχή ἐγώ ἐνώπιον κύριος καί σκεπάζω ἐγώ καί ἐκαἱρέω ἐγώ ἐκ πᾶς θλῖψις

And, behold, as your life has been precious this very day in my eyes, so let my life be precious before the Lord, and may he protect me, and deliver me out of all affliction.

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)

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)

וְהָא כְּמָא דִי יָקְרַת נַפְשָׁךְ יוֹמָא דֵין בְּעֵינָי כֵּן תִּיקַר נַפְשִׁי קֳדָם יְיָ וִישֵׁיזְבִינַנִי מִכָּל עָקָא:

(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 26:24 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 26:24 And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the LORD, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.

Ver. 24. And, behold, as thy life, &c.] What brave rhetoric is here! what heart could be so hard as to resist it? Ipsa Suada, credo, si loqui posset, non potuisset εμφατικοτερως.

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.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

26:24 may the Lord value my life, even as I have valued yours: David could not count on Saul to reciprocate. Thus, his fate was in God’s hands.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

24. was much set by] For the expression cp. 1Sa_18:30, though a different Heb. word is used here: lit. “was great.”

deliver me out of all tribulation] Cp. Psa_34:17; Psa_54:7.

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, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes,.... Or "magnified" (y); and made great account of, as being the life of the king of Israel, and the Lord's anointed, and so spared:

so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord; he does not say in the eyes of Saul, as it should have been by way of retaliation, and as it might have been expected he would have said; but he had no dependence on Saul, nor expected justice to be done him by him; but he prays that his life might be precious in the sight of Lord, and taken care of, and protected by him, as he believed it would:

and let him deliver me out of all tribulation; for as yet he did not think himself quite out of it, notwithstanding all that Saul had said, but believed the Lord would deliver him in due time; from him alone he looked for it, and on him he depended.

(y) "magnificata est", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus.

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

Set by. Literally, "magnified," or deemed very precious. (Haydock) --- Distress. These were the last words which David addressed to Saul; and they seem to have made a deep impression upon him. But as no dependance could be placed on Saul’s most solemn promises, David resolved, by God’s advice, to retire to the country of Geth. (Salien, the year of the world 2978)

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

your life was precious in my eyes today

Here the eyes represent seeing, and seeing represents thoughts or judgment. See how you translated similar words in 1 Samuel 26:21. AT: "I have considered your life to be very valuable" or "I showed you today that I really do respect you" (See: Metaphor)

so may my life be much valued in the eyes of Yahweh

Here the eyes represent seeing, and seeing represents thoughts or judgment. AT: "so may Yahweh consider my life very valuable as well" or "so may Yahweh value my life as much as I have valued your life" (See: Metaphor)

May you be blessed

This can be translated in active form. AT: "May Yahweh bless you" (See: Active or Passive)

my son

Saul was not David's true father. Saul speaks as if he were David's father to show David that he wants David to trust and respect him as David would trust and respect his own father. (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

life

precious

Yahweh

trouble

Saul (OT)

David

bless

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 15 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is tsârâh (“distress”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “distress” (tsârâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Psalms 34:17–18 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“to grow” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «גָּדְלָ֧ה» is Qal Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 15 Hebrew ↔ 29 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
“to grow” occurs 2× in this single verse.
12 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 15 words in this verse.