Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Samuel 23:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the LORD; for ye have compassion on me.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Records Saul blessing the informants through pious language.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26
The line at 1 Samuel 23:21 records Saul blessing the informants through pious language. Its place in 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26 matters because 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
Records Saul blessing the informants through pious language. That contribution supplies necessary evidence for “Ziphite intelligence narrows Saul's pursuit,” whose full movement is Ziphites offer David's location, Saul blesses them and demands verified intelligence, and the hunt closes around opposite sides of a mountain.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: Ziphites offer David's location, Saul blesses them and demands verified intelligence.
- Developing movement or outcome: the hunt closes around opposite sides of a mountain.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
First Samuel 23:21 does not stand alone from 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26: it records Saul blessing the informants through pious language. Local collaboration does not define every Ziphite or justify reprisals, and Saul's pious blessing does not sanctify surveillance for killing.
What Remains True
Records Saul blessing the informants through pious language. 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
- Records Saul blessing the informants through pious language. 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.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Samuel 23:21's precise role in 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26. 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 23:19–23:26 — Ziphite intelligence narrows Saul's pursuitSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The geography can be approximated but not used to reconstruct every movement; the scene emphasizes narrowing danger and politicized religious speech.
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 ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source
Moshe Garsiel
The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10.5, 2010
Supports: One relatively early integrated/two-edition account of composition, structure, and historiographic value, retained as a contested model.
Exact location: Garsiel, JHS 10.5 (2010), pp. 1–42, named structural or composition discussion covering the movement that includes 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26
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 21:1[2]–2 Samuel 1:27, pp. 111–140
Open source ↗scholarly monograph abstract and contents
Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel
Rachelle Gilmour
Oxford University Press, 2021 online; 2022 print
Supports: One literary, ethical, and political account of divine and human violence; publisher-visible scope does not establish consensus.
Exact location: Gilmour, Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel (2021/2022), official abstract and TOC: relevant discussion for 1 Samuel 23:19–23:26, including 1 Samuel 12 pp. 71–81, Saul's rejection pp. 90–139, Eli's house pp. 140–150, or ark violence pp. 154–185 as applicable
Open source ↗open access doctoral thesis
Politics and Covenant in the Divine Davidic Kinship
Sophia Ruth Carter Johnson
University of Cambridge, 2023
Supports: A diachronic political-covenant study that keeps succession and affection visible without settling homoerotic interpretation.
Exact location: Johnson, Politics and Covenant in the Divine Davidic Kinship, Cambridge PhD thesis (2023), Jonathan covenant pp. 29–69; 1 Samuel 18:1–5 pp. 41–49; 20:1–42 pp. 50–62; 23:15–18 pp. 63–65
Open source ↗