Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Samuel 26:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Compares his blood with a flea hunted like a partridge.
A great space lets David shout what the camp failed to guard
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Samuel 26:13–26:20. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 26:13–26:20
Verse 26:20 belongs to “Distance lets David indict failed protection and forced exile.” It compares his blood with a flea hunted like a partridge; detached from the full unit, that contribution can be mistaken for the unit's whole claim.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This detail follows the unit's opening pressure and prepares its outcome: 1 Samuel 26:20 compares his blood with a flea hunted like a partridge. Its value is contextual, not slogan-like.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: Across a wide space David rebukes Abner, displays Saul's spear and water, asks why he is hunted.
- Developing movement or outcome: describes being driven from the LORD's inheritance.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
First Samuel 26:20 does not stand alone from 1 Samuel 26:13–26:20: it compares his blood with a flea hunted like a partridge. David's appeal does not prove he owes Saul proximity, and language of forced exile must not be used to justify modern territorial or religious exclusion.
What Remains True
Compares his blood with a flea hunted like a partridge. Within 1 Samuel 26:13–26:20, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: This unit calls for truthfulness about what happened, humility about what remains uncertain, and refusal of the misuse it names: David's appeal does not prove he owes Saul proximity, and language of forced exile must not be used to justify modern territorial or religious exclusion.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Samuel 26:20's precise role in 1 Samuel 26:13–26:20. 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
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Samuel 26:13–26:20 — Distance lets David indict failed protection and forced exileSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
David offers both possible divine and human causes for the pursuit instead of claiming certainty; his cultic exile language reflects the ancient land-and-worship setting.
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 26:13–26:20, 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 26:13–26:20; 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 26:13–26:20
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 26:13–26:20
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 26:13–26:20, 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 ↗