Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Samuel 23:19 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 19. 19Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Brings Ziphites to Saul with intelligence about David's hiding place.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26
1 Samuel 23:19–23:26 supplies the necessary frame for verse 23:19. Here the narrator brings Ziphites to Saul with intelligence about David's hiding place, within this larger movement: Ziphites offer David's location, Saul blesses them and demands verified intelligence, and the hunt closes around opposite sides of a mountain.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This detail follows the unit's opening pressure and prepares its outcome: 1 Samuel 23:19 brings Ziphites to Saul with intelligence about David's hiding place. Its value is contextual, not slogan-like.
What Remains True
Brings Ziphites to Saul with intelligence about David's hiding place. Within 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: Accountability requires hearing the full movement—Ziphites offer David's location, Saul blesses them and demands verified intelligence, and the hunt closes around opposite sides of a mountain. Local collaboration does not define every Ziphite or justify reprisals, and Saul's pious blessing does not sanctify surveillance for killing.
How It Can Shape Life
- Brings Ziphites to Saul with intelligence about David's hiding place. The proportionate response is therefore the one traced from the complete unit: Do not weaponize surveillance, local intelligence, or pious language against a person; require lawful purpose, corroborated evidence, proportionality, and protection against collective reprisals. Local collaboration does not define every Ziphite or justify reprisals, and Saul's pious blessing does not sanctify surveillance for killing.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26 — Ziphite intelligence narrows Saul's pursuitSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
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 23:19–23:26, 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 23:19–23:26; 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 23:19–23:26
Open source ↗