Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Samuel 19:10 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 10. 10And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Shows the failed strike and David's night escape.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 19:8–19:10
The line at 1 Samuel 19:10 shows the failed strike and David's night escape. Its place in 1 Samuel 19:8–19:10 matters because After renewed war success, David plays music while Saul is distressed, and Saul tries to pin him to the wall before David escapes.
Why This Verse Appears Here
At verse 19:10, the scene shows the failed strike and David's night escape. That movement matters to “Saul again throws a javelin at David” while the unit's uncertainty and ethical boundary continue to govern application.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: After renewed war success, David plays music while Saul is distressed.
- Developing movement or outcome: Saul tries to pin him to the wall before David escapes.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
First Samuel 19:10 does not stand alone from 1 Samuel 19:8–19:10: it shows the failed strike and David's night escape. Recurring distress does not excuse attempted murder, make music responsible for failure, or equate people with mental-health conditions with violence.
What Remains True
Shows the failed strike and David's night escape. Within 1 Samuel 19:8–19:10, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: The durable responsibility is to protect people from detached uses of this scene while retaining its warranted claim: After renewed war success, David plays music while Saul is distressed, and Saul tries to pin him to the wall before David escapes.
How It Can Shape Life
- Shows the failed strike and David's night escape. The proportionate response is therefore the one traced from the complete unit: Treat attempted violence as a safety emergency regardless of the aggressor's distress: protect the threatened person, involve qualified help and lawful accountability, and do not blame music or mental illness. Recurring distress does not excuse attempted murder, make music responsible for failure, or equate people with mental-health conditions with violence.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Samuel 19:10's precise role in 1 Samuel 19:8–19:10. Include the first historical horizon, material uncertainty, one person or cost a leader-centered reading could obscure, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Samuel 19:8–19:10 — Saul again throws a javelin at DavidSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The narrative repeats spirit language and lethal conduct together but does not provide clinical causation; Saul remains responsible for the act.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: 1 Samuel 19:8–19:10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology, with the two KJV-Hebrew versification shifts stated rather than silently offset.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Sam.xml, OSIS 19:8–19:10; KJV 20:42 spans Hebrew 20:42–21:1, KJV 21:1–15 maps to Hebrew 21:2–16, KJV 23:29 maps to Hebrew 24:1, and KJV 24:1–22 maps to Hebrew 24:2–23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: 1 Samuel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only the translator notes actually printed for these verses, used for lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and older-English controls.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Notes, 1 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 504–543, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 19:8–19:10
Open source ↗public scholarly essay
Mental Illness, Evil Spirits, and Scripture
Joel Baden
Yale Divinity School Reflections, undated page; accessed 2026-08-29
Supports: Public scholarly control against equating ancient spirit language with modern diagnosis, evil, rejection, or violence; not clinical assessment.
Exact location: Baden, 'Mental Illness, Evil Spirits, and Scripture,' Yale Reflections, sections 'Readings and Misreadings,' 'Sorting Out the Frameworks,' and 'Interpretive Circle,' accessed 2026-08-29
Open source ↗scholarly monograph frontmatter and table of contents
The Theology of the Book of Samuel
John Goldingay
Cambridge University Press, 2024
Supports: Only the publisher-visible book architecture and theological scope; the paywalled body is not treated as inspected.
Exact location: Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024), official frontmatter and TOC: 1 Samuel 13:1–20:42[21:1], pp. 77–110
Open source ↗